Jamie Yates, who has only been playing 9-ball for a few months after an amateur career in snooker, has won at his first attempt on the new Money Match TV (MMTV) challenge match series. Money Match TV is a co-promotion between The Vegas Sports Bar (Wakefield) and Cuesport TV.

In the opening match, defending champion Dave Bagg, a professional golfer, was most people’s favourite to make it two-from-two but in a thrilling match that went hill-hill Jamie Yates proved that he has the ability at this level. He broke and ran the final frame to win 21-20 in front of a packed crowd at the Vegas Sports Bar.

What viewers want is great pool and massive entertainment and this match truly delivered on both fronts.

It was a game that started off slowly with both players failing to get to grips with the speed of the Hainsworth Pro Elite cloth on the TV table. It was actually Yates that settled sooner and went into a 6 frame lead. The momentum then swung massively as Dave Bagg dug deep and won 8 racks on the bounce to take an 18-16 lead.

It was short lived though as then neither player could get more than one rack in front for the remainder of the match.

It was ironic that we had rarely seen a break and runout in the match and yet Jamie Yates stepped up in the 41st and final frame with such confidence. He split the pack very nicely and made two balls. It was a routine runout but was made tougher through the pressure of the final frame decider for £1000. He held his nerve well and delivered the cue nicely. A well deserved winner.

Headline Match

The headline match on the TV table was defending champion Chun Hao Man, who had a great match against Jonny Cooper in June, against Craig Dixon.

Craig is well-known in the UK scene and no doubt has talent with a cue. What has let him down in the past is his conduct away from the table, this has caused a temporary ban from the GB 9 Ball Tour, a ban that has now been served.

In many people’s eyes there was only one winner in this match, Craig Dixon, but if Chun could have found the form that helped him beat Jonny Cooper then it would not all be one-way traffic.

Dixon though blasted into a commanding lead and throughout the early stages Chun did not look comfortable. He made numerous mistakes that allowed Craig to the table to take the remaining balls out.

The mistakes were not one-sided either as Craig Dixon made some very fundamental errors, possibly caused through being so far ahead, he was spoken to a number of times by his supporters for being too lax.

Although the match was not of the highest quality Dixon was no doubt the stronger player throughout the course of the race-to-21 match and never looked under any pressure from Chun.

It was a shame for Chun to not perform at level we are used to and he will be disppointed to have lost in such a manner.

Dixon won the match 21-11 to take his first MMTV title.

MMTV 3 takes place on 21st August 2010, matches to be confirmed but it will be live on Cuesport TV.

About MMTV

Money Match TV was started in June 2010 as a co-production between the Vegas Sports Bar in Wakefield and Cuesport TV. 9-ball matches are played race-to-21 for a minimum of £500-per-man. Players are matched as far as possible to ability meaning some close contests. A winner gets to ‘defend’ there ‘title’ next time out against a brand new opponent.

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