REPORTS
UIC SWISS SEASON 35 REPORT
After a long break of eight months, Season 35 finally got underway on Friday 6th January 2023 and ran for 12 weeks, the regular season finishing on Friday 7th April. This gave the competition 24 tournaments with only Kerry and Nigel hosting.
The geographical format was retained but the UK team was split into three – England North, England Midlands and England South – to try and even out the teams. England South, containing Nigel, Shane and newcomer Jani, took the team title comfortably on 126 points with mainly Nigel and Shane scoring for the team. Runners-up were the England Midlands team consisting of family members Carl, Chele and Kerry. They finished on 102 points.
Third were Rest of the World on 69, with the highest of the American teams (America Central) fourth on 56. Then came America Mountain & Pacific (37), England North (25), Europe (24) and America Eastern (20). In hindsight, the American teams could well have been merged but the attendance was expected to be higher, with previous regulars Lisa and Jason not playing.
Nigel (ENDK.) captured the Individual championship for the ninth time with 132 points (4 overall tournament wins and 4 shared) and Shane (pool_for_fun2020) finished runners-up for the second season in succession on 115 points, pipping Kerry (112) who has been second most of the season. Carl (goldenpooler) was fourth with 96 points, Michelle (zgal54) 5th on 94 points and Roxey (roxeymusic1) 6th on 78 points. In her first season, Chele (saucy.chele) finished 7th on 78 points.
Attendance-wise, 23 players took part in total, three down on the previous season. The play-off format was changed to reward the regular scorers – 1st to 4th played for Gold, 5th to 8th played for Silver and 9th and below of those with 40 points minimum played for Bronze. In the play-offs held on Friday 14th April, lack of numbers resulted in a decision being made to run them over one tournament which was reduced to five rounds. Kerry, Nigel and Shane tied on 3-2 and shared the Gold, whilst Chele, Jim and Michelle took the Silver on 2-3. In Bronze, Chris won it thanks to his 5-0 play-off tournament win.
Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to everyone who played.
UIC SWISS SEASON 34 REPORT
On Friday 7th January 2022, Season 34 of UIC Swiss commenced but this time with a 15-week season in place, due to the abolition of the 11pm EST tourney. The extended regular season was brought in to compensate for dropping the third tourney and gave a total of 30 tourneys instead of 36. The tourney times were changed to 3pm and 6pm EST and a third possible UC was permitted. The season finished on Friday 15th April, with the play-offs being held a week later on Friday 22nd April.
The geographical format was used again and United Kingdom comfortably recaptured the Judge Roy Championship, winning it for the eighth time, with Canada finishing as runners-up for the first time. Third came America Mountain & Pacific for the second season running.
In the individual standings, 26 players participated which was just one less than the previous season. Kerry, Jason, Marie and Nigel shared the hosting duties – Ben had withdrawn after being dropped as a TD. The final standings in the Judge Roy Championship were UK (202 points), well ahead of Canada (66 points), America Mountain & Pacific (64 points), American Central (62 points), America Eastern (54 points) and Rest of the World (41).
In the Individual championship Nigel (ENDK.) led all the way and finished on 168 points, winning the title for the eighth time with Shane (pool_for_fun2020) taking his highest position of runner-up on 136 points. Kerry was third for the second consecutive season on 132 points. Other positions in the top ten qualifiers for the play-offs were Michelle (zgal54) 4th on 104 points, Marie (Marie__) 5th on 103 points, Carl (Spitfire_01) 6th on 101, Roxey (roxeymusic1) 7th on 91 points, Lucy (lollipop2284900) 8th on 84 points, Susie (expressochick471970) 9th on 74 points and Jason (poolshark66669) 10th on 60 points. Lisa, the previous season's champion, finished in 12th place due to missing too many tourneys and did not make the play-offs.
For the sixth season in succession, the Season 34 Play-offs were contested as two 7-round tournaments, with the highest scores counting (as opposed to the average). Nigel won the Gold title outright with a 6–1 win to take Gold for the third season in a row. There was a four-way tie in the Silver Play-off – Carl, Roxey, Michelle and Shane all finished with 5–2 scores. In Bronze, both Kerry and Lucy shared the play-off prize with a 4–3 score.
Congratulations to all the winners.
UIC SWISS SEASON 33 REPORT
UIC Swiss Season 33 started on Friday 11th June 2021 and the 12-week season ran until Friday 27th August, with the play-offs held on Friday 3rd September. Again the geographical format was used and United Kingdom retained the Judge Roy Championship, winning it for the seventh time, with American Central runners-up for the second season in succession. Third came America Mountain & Pacific, making the top three for the first time.
In the individual standings, there were 27 players taking part which was just one less than the previous season. On the hosting side, Ben, Kerry, Jason, Marie and Nigel continued looking after the tournaments.
The final standings in the Judge Roy Championship were UK (175 points), American Central (125 points), America Mountain & Pacific (103 points), America Eastern (98 points), Canada (54 points), Rest of the World (29 points) and Australia (2 points).
However, it was the Individual championship which provided a really exciting season, contested from start to finish by seven-times champion Nigel (ENDK.) and habitual runner-up Lisa (ELITERLISA). The American pooler stayed neck and neck with Nigel all season and tied in Week 12 on 137 points, the closest finish in the history of UIC Swiss. So it all came down to the number of tournaments won by both players – the overall wins tied on four apiece, but Lisa gained one extra shared tournaments wins (six compared to five) to capture her first title. It was a kind of poetic justice for losing to Nigel by one point in ILC the previous season and also tying with him on points in ILC 2, only to lose on the number of tournaments won!
Kerry (ღƘerryღ) came third, one below her previous highest position of runner-up, with Jason (pool_shark66669) finishing fourth. The top five positions were Lisa (137 points), Nigel (137 points), Kerry (119 points), Jason (109 points) and Roxey (roxeymusic1, 93 points).
The Season 33 Play-offs were contested as two 7-round tournaments for the fifth season running, with the highest scores counting (as opposed to the average). Nigel won the Gold title outright with a perfect 7–0 win, at least some consolation for missing out so narrowly on the Individual title. It was his fifth Gold play-off success and second outright. Marie (Marie__) and Michelle (zgal54) shared the Silver (both on 4–3) whilst Shane (pool_for_fun2020) took the Bronze (with a 4–3 score).
Congratulations to all the winners, particularly Lisa for taking her first Individual title after so many seconds in both UIC Swiss and ILC, a deserved reward for all her efforts.
UIC SWISS SEASON 32 REPORT
UIC Swiss Season 32 commenced on Friday 5th February 2021 and the 12-week season ran until Friday 23rd April, with the play-offs held on Friday 1st May. Due to the lack of leagues available to participate, the competition brought back the geographical format previously used for seasons 24 to 28 inclusive. The teams were America Central, American Eastern, America Mountain & Pacific, Australia, Canada, Rest of the World and United Kingdom.
The standings show that 28 players took part which amounted to seven down on the previous season. There were two new players. With Crystal being dropped, the TDs were Ben, Kerry, Jason, Marie and Nigel.
The season started with just two tourneys running at 3pm EST and 7pm EST for the opening two weeks. Then the 11pm was reintroduced from Week 3 onwards. Including doubles (players playing twice in a week), 337 players participating over the 12 weeks (compared to 372 the previous season), which averaged at 28 per week (previously 31); excluding doubles a total of 235 players took part (compared to 239 the previous season), an average of 19 individuals per week being the nearest rounded-up figure (previously 19).
United Kingdom won the Judge Roy Championship for the sixth time after leading from Week 1. The final standings were UK (182 points), American Central (119 points), America Eastern (109 points), America Mountain & Pacific (96 points), Canada (79 points), Rest of the World (45 points) and Australia (36 points).
The Individual championship was won by Nigel (ENDK.) for the third successive season, equaling Rocky's achievement. Amazingly, it was Nigel's seventh championship win.Kerry (ღƘerryღ) came second for the first time, her highest position ever, with Shane (pool_for_fun2020) finishing third. The top five positions were Nigel (ENDK., 60 points), Kerry (SS_ღƘerryღ, 54 points), Shane (pool_for_fun2020, 52 points), Lisa (ELITERLISA, 46 points), and Dom (felixstowelad16, 37 points).
The Season 32 Play-offs, played four days before Christmas Day, were contested as two 7-round tournaments for the fourth season running, with the highest scores counting (as opposed to the average). Kerry, Lisa and Nigel shared the Gold title, all scoring 5–2, whilst John (gunslingericu) won the Silver with a faultless 7–0 score. In the Bronze, Ben (BEN329) retained the title, this time on his own, thanks to his 4–3.
Congratulations to the winners and as always, many thanks to the TDs for hosting and all the players for participating.
UIC SWISS SEASON 31 REPORT
UIC Swiss Season 31 commenced on Friday 2nd October 2020 and ran until Friday 18th December, with the play-offs held on Monday 21st December because of Christmas falling on the following Friday. The points system changed again to add 2 points for an outright tournament win and 1 point for a shared win, making the total 7 points for winning a tournament 5–0 and 5 points for sharing on 4–1. The Unavailability Compensation scheme continued with three players using it.
There were 35 players taking part which was only two down on the previous season, with 11 new sign-ups. The TDs were Ben, Crystal, Kerry, Jason (new staff member), Marie and Nigel. Including doubles (players playing twice in a week), 372 players participating over the 12 weeks (compared to 370 the previous season), which averaged at 31 per week (previously 30.8); excluding doubles a total of 239 players took part (compared to 248 the previous season), an average of 19 individuals per week (previously 20.6).
Straightshots dominated again from start to finish and won the Judge Roy Championship for the 17th time. The final standings were Straightshots (184 points), Beautiful Losers (93 points), Bongwater (85 points), Harley Hustlers (83 points), The Snack Bar (82 points), NL All-Stars (65 points) and Pooldreams (7 points). Rise were the only team not to compete from Season 30. BL, BW and HH stopped playing with three weeks remaining due to ongoing pool political drama and several players switched to NL.
The Individual championship was retained by Nigel (SS_ENDK.) who historically collected a record-breaking sixth title to surpass Rocky's long-standing five. Lisa (RS_ELITERLISA) came second for the third time in a row (and fourth in total) – always the bridesmaid, never the bride! Benjo (NL_xxbenjo22xx), who was one of the players switching from BW to NL, finished third. The top five positions were Nigel (SS_ENDK., 64 points), Lisa (TSB_ELITERLISA, 48 points), Benjo (NL_xxbenjo22xx, 39 points), Kerry (SS_ღƘerryღ, 39 points) and Carl (NL_bulldog.spirit_00, 38 points).
The Season 31 Play-offs, played four days before Christmas Day, were contested as two 7-round tournaments for the third season running, with the highest scores counting (as opposed to the average). Lisa and Marie (SS_Marie__) won the Gold plaque, both scoring 6–1, whilst Nigel, Shane (SS_pool_for_fun2020) and Trenn (SS_lxl_TrEnNn.lxl) all scored 5–2 in the Silver. In the Bronze, Ben (SS_BEN329), DJ Legend (TSB_DJ_Legend24) and Jason (NL_undeadnight666) each scored 4–3 to share the award. Congratulations go to the winners and a big thanks to all the players.
UIC SWISS SEASON 30 REPORT
The 30th season of UIC Swiss commenced on Friday 12th June 2020 and ran until Friday 28th August, with the play-offs held one week later. The main rule change was the points system, which was simplified to record just a player's wins, so removed were the Stay-5-Rounds bonus points and tournament win points; the concept of this was to make competition closer. Also new was the Unavailability Compensation scheme which allowed a 3-2 score for anyone missing up to two weeks between Weeks 3 and 10 inclusive. Of the 37 players, four took advantage of this innovative scheme.
Participation-wise, there were 37 players taking part which was six down on the previous season. The TDs were Ben, Crystal (returning after missing a few seasons), Kerry, Marie and Nigel. Including doubles (players playing twice in a week), 370 players participating over the 12 weeks (compared to 494 the previous season), which averaged at 30.8 per week; excluding doubles a total of 248 players took part (compared to 355 the previous season), an average of 20.6 individuals per week.
Just like Season 29, Straightshots were commanding from the start and won the Judge Roy Championship for the 16th time. The final standings were Straightshots (180 points), Harley Hustlers (128 points), The Snack Bar (118 points), Bongwater (92 points), Beautiful Losers (67 points), NL All-Stars (41 points), Pooldreams (23 points) and Rise (2 points). For HH, this was their best showing in UIC Swiss since winning Season 7.
The Individual championship was won by Nigel (SS_en_dk) who collected his fifth title to equal Rocky's long-standing record. Lisa (RS_ELITERLISA) came second for the third time whilst Carl (SS_bulldog.spirit_00) finished third for the second time. The top five positions were Nigel (SS_en_dk, 54 points), Lisa (RS_ELITERLISA, 47 points), Carl (SS_bulldog.spirit_00, 37 points), Kerry (SS_ღƘerryღ, 36 points) and Sterlo (BW_Sterlooo, 33 points).
The Season 30 Play-offs were held on Friday 4th September and were contested as two 7-round tournaments for the second season running, with the average number of wins counting. Sterlo (BW_Sterlooo) won the Gold division with 6–1 ahead of Kerry (SS_ღƘerryღ) and Nigel (SS_en_dk) who both scored 5–2. In the Silver section, Susie (SS_Expressochick471970) took the title thanks to her 5–2 and in the Bronze division Scott (BW_mvp_allstar) scored 4–3 head his section.
In thanking everyone for playing and also the TDs for hosting, big congratulations go to the winners.
UIC SWISS SEASON 29 REPORT
Season 29 returned to the league v league format for the first time since Season 23 and commenced on Friday 21st February 2020, finishing on Friday 8th May. Play-offs were held a week later. There was a healthy increase in players joining and by the end of the season the standings showed 43 players, compared to 29 the previous season. On the hosting front, Benjo, Ben, Kerry, Marie and Nigel were the TDs looking after the 36 tournaments. Including doubles (players playing twice in a week), there were 494 players participating over the 12 weeks, averaging 41.16 per week; excluding doubles a total of 355 played, an average of 29.58 individuals per week.
Straightshots dominated the season from the start and went on to win their 15th Team title, taking the Judge Roy Championship for the first time since season 20. The final standings were Straightshots (190 points), Beautiful Losers (130 points), Rise (129 points), Bongwater (115 points), Harley Hustlers (112 points), NL All-Stars (112 points), Pool Hall Pros (55 points), Pooldreams (28 points) and The Snack Bar (19 points). The Individual championship was won by Fahd (NL_strikeforce) who returned after an absence of several seasons. It was Fahd's fourth Individual title and first since Season 21. Lisa (RS_CRAZIE_SMURFS) came second for the second time and Nigel third. Fahd's success finally halted the run of 7 consecutive seasons where an Englishman won the Individual competition. The top five positions were Fahd (NL_strikeforce, 125 points), Lisa (RS_CRAZIE_SMURFS, 122 points), Nigel (SS_ENDK, 114 points), Kerry (SS_ღღƘerryღღ, 105 points) and Ele (BL_elektra1301w, 103 points).
There was a big cheating scandal during the season which, after an investigation, led to Joe (PD_Oox_JoE_xoO), Jason (PD_Quarantine) and Shane (SS_Caringdaddy16) being banned from UIC Swiss, ILC and other competitions. It was established that Joe had played on the others' IDs in pool in general, notably in the SS Cam Cup (for Jason), in UIC Pro Challenge (for Shane) and, less importantly, in the Gamedesire Medal room.
The Season 29 Play-offs were held on Friday 15th May and were contested as two 7-round tournaments, with the average number of wins counting. Ele (BL_elektra1301w) won the Gold division with 6 wins ahead of Blake (SS_h2o.Only) who averaged 5 from his 2 tournaments. In the Silver section, Carl (BL_bulldog.spirit_00) and Jason (HH_undeadnight666) each scored 7 wins in 2 tournaments to share the title. Both John (BL_Big_John) and Marie (SS_Marie__) shared the Bronze division with 3 wins each.
Congratulations go to the winners and once again sincere thanks to everyone who played and hosted.
UIC SWISS SEASON 28 REPORT
Season 28, the fifth to be played in the geographic regions format, commenced on Friday 1st November 2019 and in the 12th week finished on Friday 17th January. One week later the Gold and Silver play-offs were held.
The standings for the season showed 29 players, a disappointing reduction from the previous season of 34. Of these, seven were new players, one fewer than Season 27. On the staffing side, three TDs joined the hosting team, two of them returning and one newcomer. Sandi and Tom had both hosted in UIC Swiss previously whilst Benjo (AUS_xxbenjo22xx) joined as a new TD. Having had Ben and Shelle step down at the end of the previous season, these three hosts were a welcomed addition.
The season began with Australia having their own team (AUS), taking Benjo and Sterlo from the Rest of the World (ROW) team. For the fifth season in succession United Kingdom headed the team standings to win the Judge Roy Championship. ROW were runners-up for the second season running, 27 points behind the UK. In third place were America Central, two points behind ROW. The final standings were UK (155 points), ROW (128 points), AC (126 points), AUS (94 points), AP (79 points), AE (63 points), ASIA (11 points) and CAN (9 points).
The individual championship was retained by Nigel (UK_ENDK) who won the title for the fourth time in five seasons, beating Benjo (AUS_xxbenjo22xx), in his first season by 20 points. Nigel won six tourneys outright with three shared, a decent enough record out of 12 weeks. His success was the seventh consecutive season where an Englishman had won the Individual competition. The top five positions were Nigel (UK_ENDK, 137 points), Benjo (AUS_xxbenjo22xx, 117 points), Ele (ROW_elektra1301w, 109 points), Kerry (UK______X_____, 98 points) and Carl (UK_Wizard_of_Wizardry, 91 points).
The Season 28 Play-offs were held on Friday 24th January. Despite a disappointing turn-out, Nigel and Kerry shared the Gold Play-off with 5-2 each, whilst there was a three-way tie in the Silver Play-off, with Marie (UK_Marie__), Raza (ASIA_J??K) and Shane (UK_CaringDaddy16) all getting 5-2. As always, congratulations go to the winners and sincere thanks to everyone who played and hosted.
UIC SWISS SEASON 27 REPORT
Starting on Friday 12th July 2019, Season 27 ran for 12 weeks until 27th September, finishing with the Silver and Gold play-offs the following week. 34 players took part collectively, four down on the previous season, of which 8 were new players – half the number for Season 26. Kerry – who last hosted in Season 24 – rejoined as staff to add to the team of Ben, Marie, Nigel and Shelle.
The United Kingdom team proved to be too strong for the rest of the field and collected the Judge Roy Championship for the fourth time in succession. But Rest of the World came runners-up for the first time, finishing 23 points behind the UK, after leap-frogging America Eastern who were third. The final standings were UK (164 points), ROW (141), AE (124), AP (117), AC (76), CAN (34) and ASIA (24).
In the individual competition, Nigel (UK_ENDK) held off the challenge of a few others to win the title for the third time in four seasons, helped by the absence of reigning champion Dean (UK_JD_Tiger). Nigel's success made it the sixth season in succession that an Englishman won the Individual. The top five positions were Nigel (UK_ENDK, 141 points), Lisa (AC_ELITERLISA, 111), Roxey (AP_roxeymusic1) and Carl (UK_Wizard_of_Wizardry, 105 each) and Ele (ROW_elektra1301w, 100).
The Season 27 Play-offs were held at the end of the season – on Friday 4th October – and Nigel (UK_ENDK) completed a personal double by winning the Gold Play-off, whilst there was a three-way tie for the Silver Play-off with Afrim (ROW_wolflonely60), Annette (ROW_NOIRE_WINGS) and Shane (UK_caringdaddy16) all tying on 5–2.
At the end of the season, Ben stepped down, as did Shelle who had hosted for many seasons. Congratulations to the winners and huge thanks to everyone who played and hosted.
UIC SWISS SEASON 26 REPORT
The 26th season of UIC Swiss – the third in the geographic format – started on Friday 15th March 2019 and finished with the twelfth week on Friday 31st May, followed by an extra two weeks for the Gold and Silver play-offs in June. The major change for Season 26 was dropping the 11pm tournament, so the competition returned to just two tournaments for the first time since Season 17. On the team participation front, the America Eastern teams were merged into one and Europe was dropped with the few players being moved to Rest of the World.
Attendances were satisfactory with 38 players participating, one more than during the previous season. The best attendance in any of the tournaments came in the 3pm when 17 players on two occasions. There were five occasions where the figure hit 15 or more compared to three during the previous season.
A welcomed improvement saw 16 new members joining compared to 8 during season 25. On the staffing side, Ben, Crystal, Marie, Nigel and Shelle were the TDs for the season, although Crystal dropped out mid-season and was removed.
The United Kingdom team again led the field early on and comfortably captured the Judge Roy Championship for the third season in a row. AE (American Eastern) came second and ROW (Rest of the World) third. The final standings were UK (174), AE (116), ROW (91), CAN (87), AP (85), AC (39) and ASIA (16).
In the Individual championship, Dean (UK_JD_Tiger) fought the previous season's champion Nigel (UK_ENDK) closely all season and finished the stronger player to avenge his Season 25 defeat. With just two weeks remaining Dean led Nigel by one point but was the worthy winner at the end following two successive 5–0 wins, whereas Nigel dipped to finish 12 points behind. Kerry (UK_Big_Bad_Brat) did exceedingly well to finish third thanks to a Week 12 tournament win, her first of the season.
This was the fifth season in a row that an Englishman won the title – and the first where three English players filled the top three places. The top five positions were Dean (136), Nigel (124), Kerry (96), Ele (93) and Michele (91).
At the end of the season, the Silver and Gold play-offs were held on Friday 7th June and Friday 14th June respectively. Due to the cancellation of the previous season's Silver play-off, eligibility was based on players reaching a minimum of 60 points with participation in at least half of the tourneys. Lisa, Ele and Kerry shared the Gold play-off win whilst Marie surprised everybody by taking the Silver with an amazing 7–0 win.
Congratulations to the winners and a sincere thank you to everyone who played, plus the TDs who hosted.
UIC SWISS SEASON 25 REPORT
UIC Swiss commemorated its Silver Anniversary season with 12 weeks which ran from Friday 26th October 2018 to Friday 18th January 2019, plus an extra week for the play-offs.
Disappointingly attendances were down on the previous season with 37 players taking part compared to 43 during Season 24. The best attendance in any of the tournaments came in Week 3 when 16 players participated in the 3pm. There were three occasions where the figure hit 15, but in the second half of the season only on four occasions did the attendance reach double figures.
At the end of the season, the Gold play-off was held on Friday 25th January which comprised of 8 players from the eligible list of 12. In a 7-round True Swiss, there was a three-way tie between Lisa (AC_ELITERLISA), Roxey (AP_roxeymusic1) and Nigel (UK_ENDK), all getting 5–2. The Silver play-off was cancelled due to insufficient number of players turning up.
There were only 8 new members joining compared to 23 the previous season so that was well down too. On the staffing side, Ben, Crystal, Nigel, Shelle hosted, plus Marie who was the new TD joining for the first time.
The United Kingdom team consisted of Carl (UK_British_Bulldog_warrior), Dean (UK_JD_Tiger), Marie (UK_UniqueMarie), Nigel (UK_ENDK) and Kerry (UK_dark_pool_shooter) and again, just like Season 24, they led from start to finish to take the Judge Roy Championship for the second season in succession. AC (American Central) were runners-up with AES (American Eastern South) third. The final standings were UK (167), AC (142), AES (109), AP (108), ROW (63), ASIA (62), CAN (60), AEN (57) and EUR (24).
The Individual title was retained by Nigel (UK_ENDK) who pipped fellow Englishman and former winner Dean (JD_Tiger) by just five points, with another former winner Colt (AES_Colton) third just two points behind Dean. Nigel's success meant that an Englishman had won the title for the fourth season in succession. The top five positions were Nigel (122), Dean (117), Colt (115), Lisa (AC_ELITERLISA) 106 and Raza (ASIA_unreal) 93. LIsa had finished third the previous season and Raza fourth.
A big congratulations to the winners and a sincere thank you to everyone who participated again, plus the TDs who hosted the 36 tournaments.
UIC SWISS SEASON 24 REPORT
Season 24 – held between Friday 13th July 2018 and Friday 28th September 2018 (excluding the play-offs) – saw an immense radical change being introduced. Gone were leagues to be replaced by geographic teams, the brainchild of Roy and Nigel, who had planned the concept a couple of years earlier. Sadly, Roy was not around to see the format come into fruition. It was always going to be a hit and miss experiment, since although feedback had indicated that the majority who responded considered the idea to be exciting, there were a few doubters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that everyone was so used to leagues taking part, attendance figures were down. There were 95 members playing in season 23, one of the highest tallies on record, but by the end of season 24 only 43 had participated. Early season figures showed that 'plan B' had to be implemented, and that was to allow players to take part in two of the three tourneys each week. This immediately was reflected by improved attendances from Week 5 and onwards until the end of the season. In Week 11, 21 players jumped the 3pm tourney, which was the best throughout the season.
Newly introduced at the end of the season were the Gold, Silver and Bronze play-offs, based upon the final standings at Week 12. These were played in three time slots the week after Week 12, giving extra competition to the regular players with over 50 points. The play-offs added a bit more interest and excitement.
There were 23 new members joining compared to 35 the previous season. On the staff side, Ray and TIna (later to be called Kerry) came onboard as new TDs, joining Crystal, Nigel, Rauf, Sandi and Shelle. Ben returned half way through the season and took a couple of hosting spots. Tina left towards the end of the season, whilst Ray failed to show for two tourneys and was dropped for season 25.
Moving on to the winners, the United Kingdom team of Carl (UK_British_Bulldog_warrior), Dean (UK_JD_Tiger), Karen (UK_ladyofthelake_t), Marie (UK_UniqueMarie), Nigel (UK_ENDK) and Tina/Kerry (UK_UK_dark_pool_shooter) led from start to finish and won the Season 24 Judge Roy Championship comfortably. AES (American Eastern South) were runners-up with AP (America Pacific) third. The final standings were UK (157), AES (117), AP (112), AC (109), ASIA (104), CAN (86), ROW (84), AEN (79), AEM (72) and EUR (46).
The Individual title went to an Englishman for the third season in a row. Following on from Loz and Dean, Nigel stormed to six outright tourney wins and two shared to become champion. He set a new record in UIC Swiss by becoming the first person to win a tourney in eight consecutive weeks, something that even Rocky and Fahd were unable to achieve during their seasons of domination. The top five positions were Nigel (134), Rick (AC_rc_crown_royal) 103, Lisa (AC_ELITERLISA) 101, Raza (ASIA_unreal) 99 and the Season 23 champion, Dean (UK_JD_Tiger) 95. For Nigel, he finally won the title after finishing runner-up in season 11 and third in season 5. He also had one fourth place finish and four fifths.
Held on Friday 5th October 2018, the play-off winners were Raza (ASIA_unreal) taking the Gold Play-off, Sterlo (ROW_Sterlo) winning the Silver Play-off and Gin (ASIA_OK) capturing the Bronze Play-off. Eligibility for the play-offs was based on positions 1st to 8th for Gold, 9th to 16th for Silver and 17th to 24th for Bronze.
Congratulations to the winners and sincere thanks to everyone who gave the new geographic format a chance by participating – and finally, not forgetting our hosting TDs who did a good job as usual.
UIC SWISS SEASON 23 REPORT
The 23rd season of UIC Swiss was held between Friday 12th January 2018 and Friday 30th March 2018. DS won the Judge Roy Championship title for the third time in succession by gaining the same number of points as the previous season. It was the sixth success for DS, eight behind runners-up SS who finished with 14 titles in the 23 seasons played under the leagues format. TRP grabbed third place by overtaking PHP in Week 12, repeating their final position in Season 20. The Season 23 standings were as follows: DS (187 points), SS (152), TRP (140), PHP (139), BL (132), HH (114), UA1 (114), MO (49), PD (25) and LD (9).
In the Individual competition, a neck-and-neck chase for the prestigious title went to the wire, so to speak. Pita (nl_Soubanh) had led at the top for quite a few weeks, with Dean (php_[D] [e] [a] [n]) and Faizan (nl_DarkLordX) contesting closely. Raza (ds_unreal) was involved in the chase but fell away towards the end, leaving the other three to fight it out for the title. However, with Pita the firm favourite, the results in Week 12 enabled second-placed Dean to leap-frog to the top to snatch the Individual championship by one solitary point! It was the closest battle for many seasons. For Englishman Dean, he went one better after finishing runners-up at the end of the previous season. Disappointing for Pita though, who also finished second in Season 9.
At the close of the season, the ninth competition of 7-Speed was held over six weeks, the biggest in this format. Different games, all No Ball In Hand, were played each week in two tournaments – LP, 4C, RBL, D8, Bt8/Q, Reg 8 – and the attendance figures were relatively good.
35 new members joined UIC Swiss during Season 23, just one fewer than the previous season. A total of 95 members took part, one of the highest totals on record. This comfortably beat the previous season's figure of 81 and excludes one player who were disqualified.
On the staff side, Ben dropped out due to having an accident (we wish him a speedy recovery and was replaced by Rauf (PHP). The other hosting spots were filled by Boo, Crystal, Nigel, Sandi and Shelle. At the end of the season, Boo left and was replaced by Kerry (PHP). Ray (PHP) was also taken onboard as a new TD for Season 24.
During Season 23, Nigel approached quite a few members about the proposed new format, based on teams from geographic regions replacing leagues. This format was discussed between Roy and Nigel about two years previously in an attempt to make the competition more even and competitive, following many complaints about DS and SS dominating season after season. The feedback was very positive, with the general viewpoint being that the new concept was "interesting". Out of the 20 or so members consulted, only two opposed the idea.
So ends the league format after 23 seasons of UIC Swiss. The summary of team title wins is Straightshots 14, Deadstrokes 6, Freedom 1, Harley Hustlers 1 and International Cue Addiction 1; when you see the statistics laid out like this – only three other teams winning the title in 23 seasons – it is little wonder why the new format is being introduced.
Congratulations to the winners – particularly Dean for retaining the Individual title for England following on from Loz the previous season! As always, a big thank you to everyone for playing and to our TDs for hosting.
UIC SWISS SEASON 22 REPORT
Season 22, which ran from Friday 8th September 2017 to Friday 24th November 2017, was the first to be run without Roy's involvement and also the first to carry his name with the team competition entitled The Judge Roy Championship.
Few seasons pass without some kind of drama occurring and there were several 'hider' IDs playing illegally which needed sorting out, resulting in long bans. The dupe ID issues brought about the need to change some eligibility rules and one to be adopted for Season 23 involves screen-names on less than 250 games (making them unable to type in the Swiss lobby) being ineligible, with certain provisos.
The Judge Roy Championship was retained by Roy's former team who led from start to finish. They had the strongest team by far so it was little surprise that Deadstrokes topped the pile come the end of the season. The collection of Non-League players enjoyed their best season to finish behind DS but a ruling to exclude NL as an actual 'team' (being non-league, of course) meant that Pool Hall Pros were elevated into second place in the records, their highest ever finish in UIC Swiss. In turn, Moving On, taking part in their first season, did very well to take third position, whilst 14-times UIC Swiss champions Straightshots could only muster fourth which is their lowest finish since the competition began.
Here are the final positions: DS (187 points), NL (175), PHP (158), MO (142), SS (139), HH (138), BL (122), TRP (111), TWC (47) and LD (15).
Loz (nl_Casemeister) won his first Individual title (with 131 points) to finally break the monopoly of Rocky (5 wins) and Fahd (3 wins) over the previous 8 seasons. Dean (php_[D] [e] [a] [n]) became the highest placed PHP player and the first non-DS/SS player to grab the runners-up position for 8 seasons – Dean gained 115 points. Ant (ds_Ant.) finished third with 111 points, the same tally by Pita (nl_Soubanh) in fourth. After 3 third-place finishes, Raza (nl____raZa__) came fifth on 105 points, whilst Steve (mo_Bad69Boy) became MO's highest-ranked player on 104 points in sixth place.
36 new members joined UIC Swiss during Season 22 – the highest for many seasons – which was 3 more than the previous season. A total of 81 members took part (equalling Season 21's tally), excluding 3 who were disqualified. On the tournament-winning front, there were a total of 25 outright winners and 46 shared winners, which was nearly double the previous season's total.
Regarding staff, Bryan is no longer an Admin nor TD, whilst Crystal joined as a new TD and hosted a few tourneys. The other hosts were Ben, Boo, Nigel, Sandi and Shelle. Thanks once again to them all for their services. The end-of-season 7-Speed competition, the eighth to be held, was narrowly won by DS with SS finishing second and HH third. Well done to the winners of both the team and individual competitions and, as always, a sincere thank you to everyone who participated.
UIC SWISS SEASON 21 REPORT
Season 21 of UIC Swiss was held from Friday 12th May 2017 to Friday 28th July 2017 inclusive and the news that overshadowed anything else that went on during the season was the sad passing of Roy Sheppard (obituary here) on 3rd July at the age of 76. Roy was the founder of UIC in 2005 and co-founder of UIC Swiss in 2007, and was one of the main influential figures in getting interleague competition off the ground in Yahoo Pool.
As a token of respect to his memory, the UIC Swiss Admin team agreed with Nigel's suggestion to rename the team competition 'The Judge Roy Championship', which has been reflected on the Honour Board.
Although Roy would have known that Deadstrokes (DS) were going to win Season 21, such was their early lead, his death towards the end of the campaign meant that he missed his team's eventual success. DS, winning their fourth Swiss team title, had by far the strongest roster so it came as no surprise that a weakened Straightshots (SS) team could not retain the title they won in the previous season. But SS managed to compete well considering and finished runners-up.
The demise of Pool Dreams (PD) saw a new league start up, namely Beautiful Losers (BL) and they joined UIC Swiss along with former champions Harley Hustlers (HH), their first entry since Season 14. The number of team entries rose to nine thanks to Ray (ld_Poker_Pool_Ray) being the lone representative of Lucky Draw (LD). HH did well to grab a creditable third place by leap-frogging PHP on the last day of the season. BL finished fifth, TRP sixth and TWC seventh. Of the competing teams, it was good to see HH back, especially because they were the last team to win the championship other than DS or SS.
The final points tallies were DS (202), SS (172), HH (141), PHP (137), BL (129), TRP (103), TWC (73), NL (69) and LD (22). DS's total of 202 points equalled the record high set by SS in Season 20.
The Individual competition went down to the wire, so to speak, and an exciting and nerve-racking ending saw the previous season's champion Fahd (ss_ThePlayer and ss_YouCantSeeMe) overcome a four-point deficit to snatch the title from second-placed Omkar (ds_KraZy_KiLLa). This Fahd did with the only score that would take him to the top of the pile, a 5–0 win in the final 3pm tournament of the season.
Fahd finished with 123 points, just two more than Omkar on 121. Raza (ds_magician) – who sank the 8-ball early to hand Fahd the title in round 5 – came third for the third time in four seasons on 109 points. Dean (php_[D] [e] [a] [n]) became the first non-DS/SS player to finish in the top four for quite a few seasons.
On to the stats side of the season, 28 of the 36 tourneys had outright winners and they were DS 16 (8 different players involved), SS 6, PHP 2, TRP 2, HH 1, TWC 1. Players shared tourney wins on 24 occasions between them. A total of 81 players participated during Season 21, an increase of 10 compared to Season 20 – the highest total since UIC Swiss moved to Gamedesire. 33 players joined during Season 21 compared to 29 in Season 20 and 28 in Season 19.
The UIC Swiss hosts were Ben (BL), Boo (BL), Bryan (DS), Nigel (SS), Sandi (BL) and Shelle (SS) who looked after the tourneys very efficiently, with Nigel hosting the most on 8 tourneys. Following the Head Admin's newsletter carrying the 'haters stay away' message, the season flowed by relatively quietly with the minimal amount of drama, which was a welcomed improvement. Congratulations to the winners of the team and individual events and a sincere thank you to everyone who participated.
UIC SWISS SEASON 20 REPORT
UIC Swiss celebrated its 20th season – the eighth to be held in Gamedesire – which started on Friday 6th January 2017 and ran to Friday 24th March 2017.
The Winning Club (TWC) were the new team joining for Season 20 whilst Independence Poolerz (IP) and Lucky Draw (LD) dropped out, leaving the competition with eight teams including the NL group of players. Deadstrokes (DS) lost some key players and looked like being ousted as the main challengers to Straightshots (SS) by The Rack Pack (TRP) but TRP fell away after a promising start.
With TRP, PHP, PD, TWC and 8BS more or less playing for positions third and downwards, this left SS and DS going for the 20th Team championship. Even though SS lost a number of key players from the previous season (particularly top scoring Faizan and Raza), they brought in some newcomers including ex-DS players Colt and Warren and the returning Chevy and Fahd. The SS team stormed to a position of dominance from the start, impressively hitting a mid-way high of 100 points after six weeks.
At the season's close, SS went on to smash the team points record with 202, six more than they gained in Season 19. This averages at 16.8 points per week, which is equivalent to a minimum of four 4–1 scores every week of the season. In statistical terms this is an extremely high average over 12 weeks. In finishing second for the eighth time, DS were 53 points adrift on 149, well down on their Season 19 tally. As a team they were severely hampered by quality players leaving or being unavailable (reigning Individual champion Rocky being their major absentee), so effectively it could be said that they did well to finish runners-up considering their lack of players. They did manage to recruit some unknowns during the season but the consistency of the SS team thwarted any creditable challenge.
TRP enjoyed their best season to date, gaining 117 points to take third place, just four points ahead of PHP in fourth (113). PD were in fifth place, one below the previous season but increased their points tally to 112. 8BS finished sixth just three points behind PD but they too increased their total by 20 points. Newcomers TWC ended in seventh position on 105 points, with NL again in eighth place for the second season running.
In the Individual competition, Fahd (ss_Devastator_De_Pool and then ss_ThePlayer) won his second title, winning five tourneys along the way. Colt (ss_CS) finished as runners-up which was his third second spot in UIC Swiss. Colt holds the distinction of finishing in the top four of UIC Swiss whilst playing for FOUR different teams – HH (Season 13), NL (Season 14), DS (Season 18) and SS (Season 20) respectively! Third was Omkar (ss_KraZy_KiLLer) for the second time.
On the tourney win count, SS won 12 outright tourneys compared to 4 by DS. Boo (8bs_Boo_Darlin), Dean (php_ [D] [e] [a] [n]), John (trp_gunslingericu) and Pita (nl_Soubanh) – twice – were the other tourney winners.
Season 20 attracted 29 new members, the same as for Season 19 and one more than Season 18. A total of 71 players participated (compared to 62 in Season 19 and 74 in Season 18). The 11pm tourney attracted the most weekly attendance with the 3pm tourney also doing well overall. However, the 7pm tourney seemed to be generally reduced in numbers, with members preferring the later tourney as figures showed. On the hosting front, Ben (8BS), Boo (8BS), Bryan (DS), Nigel (SS), Sandi (8BS) and Shelle (SS) competently looked after the tourneys, with the last two named hosting the most (seven each).
A season rarely passes without some form of drama and Season 20 was no exception. There were a small amount of boxings but nothing on the scale of Season 19's situation. Summing up, although one team down on the previous campaign, the increase in overall members' participation suggested a decent 20th season so many thanks to UIC Swiss staff members and everyone who took part.
UIC SWISS SEASON 19 REPORT
With the completion of Season 19, UIC Swiss became the longest running interleague competition in online pool, surpassing the 18 seasons of UIC and having already outlived the old PLC and MLP interleagues. Season 19 was the seventh season in Gamedesire and ran from Friday 9th September 2016 to Friday 25th November 2016 inclusive. There were no major rule changes to report from the previous season.
Despite losing several players, Straightshots led from the start to the finish to win their 13th team title. Faizan (ss_Darkness) and Raza (ss_TheCheaterX) – who had left DS to join SS – were their highest scorers but the team was well supported by numerous others including new signings Mauricio (ss_EL_PALOMO) and Alex (ss_Misterius), both from South America. Deadstrokes, the previous season's winners, ran them fairly close for much of the season mainly due to Rocky's consistency but lost by 12 points at the end as SS never dropped off.
The season began badly for SS, with a 5–0 win by Karl (ss_Quecando) being disqualified in Week 1 because he had been purged from SS the day before the first tournament – and Maro (ss_goldener_falke) then disappeared after playing once. However, despite the set-backs SS started brightly followed closely by DS and Pool Hall Pros, who eventually matched their highest ever finish by taking third place behind DS. Pool Dreams had an improved season and took fourth spot whilst Eight Ball Saints had to be content with fifth position for the second season in succession. The Rack Pack, fourth in Season 18, finished two places lower, with newcomers Independence Poolerz in seventh. Lucky Draw were last behind Non-League!
In the Individual competition, Rocky (ds_hitlist) finished first. However, Faizan (ss_Darkness) actually led for several weeks with a decent record of his own but a late slump enabled Rocky to leap-frog to the top. Faizan won five tournaments and shared two and came to within a creditable seven points of the reigning champion by the finish. Raza (ss_TheCheater) was third (for the second season running) and Paul (ds_xlx_Paul_xlx) came fourth. It is worth noting that DS and SS players occupied the top 11 positions, with 8bs_roxeymusic1 being the highest placed from any other league in twelfth place. In a way it is rather disappointing that other leagues do not have the players to consistently compete although there are some talented ones out there. Rocky was subsequently demoted for his involvement in the 'ds_katiebug' affair (see last paragraph). Paul, too, was demoted out of the top three for the same reason. As a result, Faizan was given the Individual title for the first time.
On the Season 19 statistics front, the final team competition placings (top six) were SS (setting a new record with 196 points under the current points system), DS (184 points), PHP (133 points), PD (96 points), 8BS (89 points) and TRP (75 points). In the Individual standings, the top 10 DS/SS-dominated points tallies were Rocky (141 points), Faizan (133), Raza (116), Paul (109), Mauricio (108), Nigel (98), Omkar (96), Lisa (96), Jenny (96) and Roy (92). Of the 36 tournaments, 25 were won outright with SS leading the way (12), followed by DS (11), and PD and PHP having one win each. The two teams with the most shared tournament wins were SS (11) and DS (7). With DS and SS winning 23 tournaments outright between them, it is little wonder why these two teams dominate the competition. DS were subsequently demoted for the 'ds_katiebug' affair.
There were 29 new members in Season 19 (compared to 28 in Season 18 and 45 in Season 17). A total of 62 players took part (compared to 74 in Season 18 and 79 in Season 17). On the hosting side, we had a good team of TDs looking after the 36 tournaments with Boo (8bs_Boo_Darlin) joining the team as a late newcomer after Stewart (ss_sstewart) had been removed for failing to show several times, and Heather (ds_spoiled_princess) removed for conduct reasons.
Although there appeared to be tension in the lobby between certain individuals from DS in particular, generally speaking there were few problems during the season. But even more disappointing was an unsavoury matter occuring at the end of the season from evidence submitted which showed that Heather (who, facing a boxing for misconduct, had withdrawn earlier in the season) was found to have deceptively played on the ID 'ds_katiebug'. This ID was subsequently used by Loz (ds_Casemeister) to play at least one week of UIC Swiss, meaning that he had illegally played twice in one week. Both cases of cheating were subsequently penalised in accordance with UIC Swiss rules, resulting in a boxing of 60 days for both Heather and Loz (both increased to 75 days for additional offences). So a sad ending to the 19th season of UIC Swiss which otherwise had been another successful one.
Later, further evidence came to light that others used the 'ds_katiebug' ID as well, including Rocky and Paul who had finished in the top three. Both were demoted from the Individual rankings accordingly.
UIC SWISS SEASON 18 REPORT
Gamedesire Pool's sixth season of UIC Swiss ran from Friday 13th May 2016 to Friday 29th July 2016 inclusive. Season 18 started with several big changes from the previous season. A third tournament, previously known as the Australian Tourney, was reintroduced again, increasing the tournament count from 24 to 36 over the course of the season. The tournament names were changed as well – gone were the UK, US and Australian to be replaced by 3pm, 7pm and 11pm respectively. But the most significant innovation for UIC Swiss was bringing in timed tables of 30 seconds.
Having seen timed tables work well in 7-Speed previously, this proposal was generally approved in a pre-season ballot followed by a staff vote and certainly quickened up each tournament as envisaged, so it was a successful introduction. Another change was the number of players permitted to take part for each league was reduced from six to five per tournament. Proposals to cam games – whether in all rounds or in rounds 4 and 5 for players on 3–0 – were rejected.
The team competition was won by Deadstrokes for the first time since Season 11, their third success. DS finally broke the lengthy monopoly of Straightshots – who won four consecutive seasons – by improving everything that had deserted them for so long, such as reliability and consistency. With Rocky (ds_hitlist), CS (ds_Xtreme) and Raza (ds_aKaJerK) performing well, supported by a good show by other players over the three tournaments, DS led from the start and could not be caught. Implementing the 11pm tourney certainly suited DS better than SS and other leagues since DS filled nearly every spot throughout the season and they won more 11pm tourneys than any other team. On the other hand, SS had lost key players and their other top players under-performed all season. For the first time since Season 13, SS had to be content with the runners-up spot.
In third place in the team event was Pool Hall Pros, their highest finish after several seasons of mediocrity. Other teams – The Rack Pack (fourth) and Eight Ball Saints (fifth) in particular – competed gamely for the lower positions, so full credit to them all for participating throughout Season 18. Pool Dreams and newcomers Lucky Draw did not compete enough to amass sufficient points to challenge for a top five place.
The most consistent player once again was Rocky who won the Individual title for a record-setting fourth time, with CS, a former winner, in second place. Raza came third to make it a DS top three for the first time. The highlight for SS was the consistency of Maro (ss_goldener_falke) – the first Japanese participant – who won two tournaments in finishing a meritable fourth in his first season. Lee (php_clawed_bawls), Scott (php_mvp.allstar), Rick (php_rc_crown_royal), Ben (php_BenThereDoneThat) and Dean (php_JD_Tiger) were PHP's most consistent scorers yet could not break into the top ten. The leading non-DS/SS player in the standings was Alex (trp_xx_0nly_me_xx) in ninth place.
On the Season 18 statistics front, the final team competition placings (top six) were DS (a record-high 195 points under the current points system), SS (172 points), PHP (142 points), TRP (121 points), 8BS (116 points) and PD (77 points). In the Individual standings, the leading final points tallies were Rocky (136 points), CS (125), Raza (120), Maro (108), Roy (107), Nigel (97), Karl (96), Alex (96) and Jenny (96). Of the 36 tournaments, 18 were won outright with DS leading the way on 13, followed by SS (with surprisingly only three), and PHP and NL having one win each. The two teams with the most shared tournament wins were DS and SS with 19 and 17 respectively. Individual champion Rocky won four tournaments outright and five shared.
There were 28 new members in Season 18 (compared to 45 in Season 17 and 31 in Season 16). A total of 74 players took part (compared to 79 in Season 17 and 63 in Season 16). On the hosting side, we had a good team of TDs looking after the 36 tournaments without too many problems. Ben (php_BenThereDoneThat) and Stewart (ss_sstewart) were two new TDs who joined the team at the beginning of the season. Everyone did a very good job. Congratulations to the winners of the competitions, and many thanks to our staff members and everyone who participated during Season 18.
UIC SWISS SEASON 17 REPORT
UIC Swiss held its fifth season in Gamedesire between Friday 22nd January 2016 and Friday 15th April 2016 inclusive. Alex (trp_xx__0nLy__M€__xx) and Sandi (8bs_xlx_sandi_xlx) came in as new TDs to join the existing team and the season flowed by without too many hitches.
There was one dispute regarding which player in a pairing invites an opponent that led to a new rule being introduced for clarity early in the season, reading 'if both players in a pairing create a table, the second named player must accept the invite of the first named player in all cases. A second named player risks losing the game by default should he or she refuse an invite.' Other than that, everything seemed to run smoothly overall.
On the playing front, Season 17 attracted the highest number of competing teams since UIC Swiss moved to Gamedesire. A total of ten different leagues took part, with Break & Run (third in Season 12) making a welcomed return and Pool Dreams entering for the first time. Eight Ball Crushers, third in Season 9, were brought back by Mitchell of EC fame but their participation, together with another new league, Sinners, was very restricted and both leagues finished 10th and 11th respectively.
At the other end of the standings, it was the reigning champions Straightshots that dominated from start to finish, averaging 16 points per week to amass a record total (under the current scoring system) of 192 points. Despite a poor start, Cue Ball Crushers eventually leap-frogged over Deadstrokes who started strongly but faded. It was virtually a repeat of the previous season where DS, boosted by Rocky's return, looked set to challenge SS but fell away, only to see CBC grab second place. CBC (158 points) ended one point fewer than in Season 16, whilst DS (151 points) showed an improvement. Eight Ball Saints gained a respectable fourth place on 114 points with The Rack Pack in fifth on 98 points.
Pool Hall Pros, whose Head Admin Robert pushed for times to be changed from 2pm EST to 3pm (UK Tourney) and 7pm EST to 8pm (US Tourney), promised improved participation from his team if the proposals were passed (which they were) but PHP went on to total a disappointing 60 points in finishing a lowly ninth. PD (97 points), BnR (69 points) and NL (64) finished in sixth place to eighth respectively. So SS won their twelfth team championship out of 17 seasons – and fourth title in a row – to create a fantastic record of consistency. The Team Sportsmanship Award went to The Rack Pack for the first time, taking a quarter of the votes collected from teams and staff.
The Individual title was keenly contested all season, with the reigning champion Fahd (ss_º°TheBeast°º) fighting neck and neck with former winner Rocky (ds_Asskicker619 and then ds_hitlist). Rocky held the advantage at Week 10 but his non-appearance gave Fahd the upper hand to lead by one point. But Rocky fought back to lead by four points after Week 11 and made sure of his third Individual title in the most perfect way befitting of a champion by winning the Week 12 tournament with an excellent 5–0 win.
Rocky (126 points) won seven tournaments, five outright, out of his 11 appearances and was the deserving winner. Fahd (116 points) finished one point ahead of third-placed Karl (ss_Quecando). Only Raza (cbc_--no-mercy), who finished fourth, was the other non-SS player in the top seven positions, with Faizan (ss_DarklordX), Nigel (ss_en_dk) and Chevy (ss__Chevy_Girl_) finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Season 17 attracted 45 new players which represented a healthy increase compared to the previous season's 31. At one of the US Tourneys, 34 players participated which was a new UIC Swiss record in Gamedesire – and most likely one of the best ever attendances since the competition began in 2007. A total of 79 players took part, compared to 63 in Season 16 and with attendances generally improved, Season 17 could be summed up as being another very successful season.
Congratulations to the winners of the team and individual competitions, and a big thank you to everyone who participated during Season 17.
UIC SWISS SEASON 16 REPORT
For the fourth time UIC Swiss was run in Gamedesire between Friday 9th October 2015 and Sunday 20th December 2015. The season had to be extended to the Sunday to enable Season 16 to be completed before Christmas. The later start was due to preparation for Season 16 being hindered somewhat by somebody managing to access the UIC Swiss server and deleting all files there. Roy (ds_judge.0000) managed to bring back the UIC Swiss website to its former appearance.
On Monday 28th September, the Admin team decided to have a new team called 'NL Allstars' whose players could continue to compete under nl_ as before. The idea was for NL to appear in the standings and those points previously wasted in the Team competition would be used to give NL a score, in the hope of providing more competition. Robert (php_fishinlifer) – the PHP HA – proposed to move the tourney times and after discussion it was agreed to have the tourney starts at 3pm (UK tourney) and 8pm (US tourney) for Season 16.
On the staffing front, Bryan (ds_Pool.Champ) had been appointed as the new Admin to replace Angela who stepped down at the end of Season 15. Heather (cbc_SpoiledPrincess) and Sammy (trp_two_can_sam90) applied to be TDs and were both allocated tourneys for Season 16.
So the new season saw two new teams taking part for the first time plus the return of one which had finished third during its previous participation. The new teams were Eight Ball Saints (8BS) and TRP (The Rack Pack), whilst Cue Ball Crushers (CBC) was the team returning after an absence of one season.
But it was Straightshots who carried on where they left off in Season 15 by dominating from Week 1. With a smaller team due to a few players leaving, SS scored consistently well from start to finish, and amassed a record score of 189 points under the current scoring system. Deadstrokes, the habitual challengers, fell by the wayside despite a decent start themselves and it was left to CBC (159 points) to leap-frog them into second place to grab the runners-up spot for the first time. With DS (137 points) in third, 8BS (104 points) came a creditable fourth whilst the players without a league pushed NL (93 points) into a surprising fifth place out of seven. TRP were sixth with 86 points followed by PHP on 66.
Rocky (nl_Asskicker619), going for the hat-trick of Individual titles, started playing late in Season 16, thereby eliminating himself out of the reckoning. Previously third and second in Seasons 14 and 15 respectively, Fahd (ss_º°TheBeast°º) stormed to the top early on and held that position all season, gaining 124 points and his first Individual title. Runner-up was Faizan (ss_StarlordX) on 112 points, who won seven of the 12 tourneys available, two outright. Omkar (ss_KraZy_KiLLa), third placed, led a trio of SS players filling the next three positions in an SS-dominated field. Scott (cbc_mvp.allstar) was the first non-SS player in the standings in sixth place.
31 new players joined during Season 16 (one more than in Season 15) and a total of 63 players took part, which was an increase of nine compared to the previous season. CBC generally provided the most players throughout the season, regularly filling all places each week much to their credit and ended up deservedly winning the Team Sportsmanship Award for the second time.
On the whole there was very little drama during the season but a major problem hit the competition in Week 11 when Gamedesire maintenance caused the UIC Swiss server to be down at the time of the UK tourney. Some quick thinking enabled the tourney to be belatedly hosted via CBC thanks to Heather's initiative. There was one boxing all season (ec_8ballbuddy) for leaving the table before the 8-ball dropped.
TDs leaving us for Season 17 are Joe (ds_The_1_Percenter) and Sammy (trp_two_can_sam90) and thanks go to them for hosting. They have been replaced by Alex (trp_xx__0nLy__M€__xx) and Sandi (8bs_xlx_sandi_xlx) so a warm welcome to them both for Season 17.
Congratulations to the winners of the team and individual events and, as usual, a sincere thank you to everyone who took part during Season 16.
UIC SWISS SEASON 15 REPORT
Season 15 was the third one played in GameDesire starting on Friday 19th June 2015 and finishing on Friday 4th September 2015, again being contested over 12 weeks. The season commenced with Angela of DS joining the admin ranks. Five TDs were given slots to cover the 24 tournaments – Angela (ds_*Angela*), Bryan (ds_Pool.Champ), Joe (ds_The_1_Percenter), Nigel (ss_en_dk) and Shelle (ss_shelle4461).
At an Admin meeting just before the season commenced, a proposal by Angela to change the maximum of entries per tournament from 5 to 6 per league was carried in an attempt to encourage better participation. Attendance figures fluctuated throughout the season. Sometimes tourneys were well attended and on other occasions the number of players was not so good.
As the season progressed it was pretty clear to everyone that Deadstrokes and Straightshots would be fighting for the championship between them. With Cue Ball Crushers, third in Season 14, disappearing which coincided with the emergence of Bongwater – plus former champions Harley Hustlers not participating – Season 15 was seemingly going to be a two-horse race. Bongwater promised much but delivered little and before the half-way stage it was evident that they were not going to be a threat to the leading two.
Deadstrokes were greatly boosted by the signing of the previous two Individual champions, namely Rocky (ds_Asskicker619) and CS (ds_Legendary), which gave them a formidable team capable of challenging reigning champions Straightshots. SS themselves took on a few newcomers but knew that retaining their title was always going to be an arduous task given the additional strength of the DS squad.
Rocky proved to be a great addition to the DS roster as he started the season in dominant form, winning four of the opening six tournaments. By Week 5, DS held a commanding 13 points lead over SS but at the half-way stage this had been reduced to 11. Even so, it was looking extremely promising for DS as Rocky, CS and Bryan amassed a lot of tournament wins, whether outright or shared. For SS, Fahd (ss_º°TheBeast°º) and Faizan (ss_DarklordX), their top scorers, kept battling together with the rest of a competitive team in an attempt to stay in touch with the run-away leaders. In came Karl (ss_Quecando) and Peter (ss_M.HIGGINS), amongst others, to try to strengthen the SS numbers, but it was always a question of trying to stay as close to DS as possible.
Week 9 was a vital turning point after SS had managed to reduce the deficit to eight points following the half-way point of the season. DS were blighted by absenteeism in Week 9 which included their high-scoring big three – Rocky, Bryan and CS. With not a soul present in the Week 9 UK tournament, they allowed SS to make up ground. And then, in the US tournament, DS only had Roy (ds_Judge1), Paul (ds_xlx_Paul_xlx) and Carl (ds_xxx_w.w00dman_xxx) turning up. Carl left on 0-2, leaving his two remaining team-mates to fight for points against the might of SS's six players! The points swing from Week 9 proved to be crucial as DS suffered badly, enabling SS to claw back sufficient points to put them right back into the championship race.
At Week 11, SS were miraculously leading by a solitary point, an incredible turnaround given that DS had a huge lead after the half-way stage of the campaign. So it was a case of holding on to what they had and this was the big opportunity SS had been waiting for. Each DS v SS game was an important match-up as points won or lost in individual battles could very well determine the outcome of the Season 15 title.
There is little doubt that the team work of SS was mightier than the arguably superior firepower of the DS team. Whilst DS relied in the main on Rocky, Paul, Bryan and CS, SS had a team of lesser players contributing to their points tally. Joining their best two – Fahd and Faizan – SS had Karl, Omkar (ss_KraZy_KiLLa), Afrim (ss_wolflonely60), Chevy (ss__Chevy_Girl_), Nigel and Peter all winning tourneys to boost SS into a challenging position. By the end of the competition, the overall dominance of SS's team work pushed them into a lead of five points as the competition ended, all the more impressive given the standings after Week 6.
Straightshots were deserving champions for the tenth time after playing catch-up all season. They trailed DS from Week 1 and, to their credit, overturned a massive deficit by Week 11 – a job very well done. At the top of the table, SS gained 175 points (Season 14: 173 points) and DS had 170 points (Season 14: 150 points). BW totalled 63 points in third place.
Eight Ball Bangerz, under the leadership of Sammy (8bb_two_can_sam90), came in relatively late and did well to amass 52 points in fourth place, only 11 behind Bongwater who replaced CBC in third position compared to the previous season. The participation of both Pool Dragonz and Pool Hall Pros was disappointing but full credit must go to Susie (pdz_Espressochick) whose efforts alone gave her league a distant fifth place, way behind 8BB. Extreme Cues, having lost their individual champion from Season 14, Rocky, plus Sterlo, slumped from 66 points in the previous campaign to just two. A GameDesire glitch during a tournament towards the end of the season gave Admin a headache in trying to decide the result of a game between Paul of DS and Sammy of 8BB. Yet thanks to the much appreciated sportsmanship of the 8BB head admin, who selflessly gave the win to enable the tourney to advance, the situation was resolved.
On the Individual front, Rocky (ds_Asskicker619) became the first player to retain the Individual title, seeing off gallant runners-up Fahd (ss_º°TheBeast°º) by one single point. Rocky won seven tourneys, five outright, compared to Fahd's five (four outright), Bryan's five (all shared) and Faizan's four (all shared). Players from DS and SS occupied the top 14 places in the standings, with Sammy in 15th position being the top scoring non-DS/SS player, six points behind Roy (ds_Judge1) in 14th. 54 players made the Individual standings. Season 15 attracted 30 new players compared to 33 joining the previous season.
Sportsmanship-wise, the majority of tournaments flowed by without any hitches but there were a couple of incidents leading to some unsavoury scenes in the lobby. Peter (ss_M.HIGGINS), Jason (8bb_Phenom) and Sterlo (nl_sterlo) were three players boxed as tempers flared. But overall, Season 15 was pretty decent despite these isolated problems. At the end of the season, Angela (ds_*Angela*) stepped down as UIC Swiss Admin and a TD. A sincere thanks go to her for all her updating and TD work over two seasons. Bryan (ds_Pool.Champ) was promoted to replace Angela as the new Admin.
Whilst the Team Sportsmanship Award was not presented for Season 15, Sammy (8bb_two_can_sam90) did take the Individual Sportsmanship Award for her overall sportsmanship. Congratulations to the winners of the team and individual events and once again a sincere thank you to everyone who participated.
UIC SWISS SEASON 14 REPORT
Season 14, the second campaign in GameDesire, was played between Friday 20th February 2015 and Friday 15th May 2015, covering 12 weeks and 24 tournaments. Again the competition proved to be a success despite a change of the rooms set-up by the gaming site prior to the final week which was quickly resolved after some rapid thinking by UIC Swiss staff. Several emails by various individuals resulted in GameDesire replacing some deleted rooms with new rooms designated specifically for leagues.
The season began with the reigning champions Harley Hustlers losing quite a few players including their Season 13 'captain' Angela, who had masterminded the league's first interleague title. HH seemed to commence the season in disarray but still had some good players to remain competitive. The Season 13 Individual winner CS (Legendary) and Liz (Glitter) were still there, plus a few others to enable HH to lead after three weeks. Habitual challengers Straightshots signed up several ex-HH players including Annette (Starlight) and Faizan (DarklordX) who had done well for HH during the previous season. When Fahd (Devastator_De_Pool) joined them as well, they looked to have a formidable team and they soon caught up HH and overhauled them at the half-way point.
Deadstrokes also had some capable players to sustain their usual attempt to add to their two previous UIC Swiss titles, namely Bryan (Pool.Champ), Brent (Sykology), Joe (The_1_Percenter), Nick (Zero ), Roy (Judge1) and Warren (___MOONEY____). DS maintained a consistent third place behind HH and SS until Steve (BadBoy) lived up to his screen-name by curtailing HH's challenge after week 8 or 9 which more or less put paid to his league's chances of retaining the championship. By this time SS had broken clear at the top of the standings and HH players no longer participating allowed DS to leap-frog into second place
Extreme Cues started well, mainly helped by the excellence of Rocky (Asskicker619) who single-handedly amassed most of their points in winning several tourneys but the surprise team were Cue Ball Crushers who, although missing the first few weeks, came in slowly but soon started to build up their points tally. Captained by Dave (Xx_CRASHOVERRIDE_xX), CBC's initial participation was sporadic but once they managed to bring in more players, their rapid improvement was impressive, with Lee (Clawed_bawls), Mario (DarkMagicianSlam), Sheila (Dlite) and John (gunslingericu) winning the league a lot of points. In fact, HH's loss was CBC's gain and Dave was delighted to see his team move into a creditable third position and a deserved place on the UIC Swiss Honour Board.
Pool Hall Pros started adequately but tailed off and slumped to sixth position, with Dean (JD_Tiger) being their top-scoring player in 35th place. The return of Susie (Espressochick) representing PDZ was welcomed although she was really the league's main contributor which was a shame. However, she gallantly gave her best for PDZ on a weekly basis and virtually on her own kept them on the standings list despite PDZ holding bottom place.
So, all in all, even though most tournaments were well supported and remained competitive, it was the combined might of Straightshots with their undoubted talent and organisation that paved the way towards a ninth UIC Swiss championship success. Led by Nigel (en_dk), who has been a part of no less than 10 UIC Swiss team titles (including one with International Cue Addiction in Season 6), SS finished in the top 2 for the 6th season in succession and 11th in 14 seasons. Fahd top scored for SS and finished a close third in the Individual standings, whilst Annette and Faizan contributed many points as well, both of them being members of the championship-winning team for the second season in succession.
Said the victorious Straightshots 'captain': "Good organisation was important in winning back the Swiss title. We recruited some good players with great attitudes, and although we won only 4 tournaments outright out of 24, we stuck to a game plan which worked. Once we overtook HH, we simply had to match or outscore DS each week and that objective was achieved. Many thanks – and congratulations – go to the SS players who contributed throughout the season."
Deadstrokes, for whom Bryan was their leading scorer, had to be content with the runners-up spot for the 5th time. But CBC's appearance in the top three was the most impressive end result which was the deserved reward for Dave's sterling efforts to bring players in. CBC deservedly won the Team Sportsmanship Award as well, following a vote by team representatives and UIC Swiss staff.
Winner of the Season 14 Individual championship was Rocky of Extreme Cues. His five outright tourney wins and two joint wins gave him a total of 128 points and he topped the standings by 13 points over the previous season's champion, CS. Congratulations to the winners of the team and individual events and a sincere thank you to everyone who participated.