PHIL TAYLOR opens his challenge for a third successive PartyPoker.net European Championship title on Thursday, when he takes on Co Stompe as the £200,000 tournament begins in Dinslaken, Germany.
MATCHROOM SPORT can announce that tickets to the 2010 PartyCasino.com Mosconi Cup are now on sale from www.seetickets.com, one of the UK's major online ticketing agencies.
Tony Bloom reached his third Poker Million final after a stunning performance saw him overcome WSOP legend Erik Seidel heads-up in heat three to reach December's live Sky Sports final.
PHIL TAYLOR claimed his 11th StanJames.com World Matchplay title with an 18-12 win over Raymond van Barneveld at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Sunday night.
THE Totesport.com Fish'O'Mania Champion of Champions features the 16 men who have won the main Fish'O'Mania competition.
FORMER PGA EuroPro Tour star Louis Oosthuizen is one round away from winning one of the biggest events in golf - The Open Championship.
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD produced another piece of history with a sensational nine-darter at the StanJames.com World Matchplay on Saturday night.
NEIL McKinnon has won the Totesport.com Fish'O'Mania XVII in the most dramatic style.
Fish'O'Mania final to include former winners
Fish'O'Mania XV will be shown live on Sky Sports on Saturday, July 19
THE 16 qualifiers for the 2008 PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania XV final have been confirmed - and the line-up includes two former champions.
Matt Hall (right) and Neil Machin, who won in 2003 and 2006 respectively, are among the men battling it out for the £25,000 top prize.
The final will be held on Saturday, July 19, at the Cudmore Fishery in Staffordshire and all the action will be again screened live on Sky Sports.
No one has ever won Fish'O'Mania twice so both Hall and Machin will be aiming to make history and put their name in the record books.
Three previous finalists - Jon Arthur, Darren Cox and Dave Swain - also won qualifying events, while 11 people will be making their debuts, all trying to win the most prestigious fishing event of the year.
The last three anglers to secure their spots in the final were Mick Bull, Andrew Neal and Greg Cooper.
Bull, who hails from Warwickshire, produced a stunning performance in the 14th qualifying tournament at Willinghurst Fishery, near Guildford as he caught an incredible total of 247lbs, more than 150lbs ahead of his nearest rival.
Next to qualify was Welshman Andrew Neal, but his victory was far tighter than Bull's as he edged out Manchester's Karl Webster by only 4lbs and 9ozs at the Moorlands Fishery near Kidderminster.
"I've fished Moorlands a lot in the past so I had a game plan, stuck to it throughout and thankfully it worked," said Neal.
"I can't wait for the final and have already booked the time off work to get some practice in. I've never been to Cudmore before but it's a first class venue so I'm really looking forward to it."
There was also a tense finish at the last qualifier, held earlier this week at Lindholme Lakes in North Lincolnshire.
Greg Cooper of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, scraped through by just over 1lb as he caught 74lbs compared to Chesterfield's Richard Wardle, who managed a total of 72lbs 12ozs.
The 2008 PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania XV
Saturday, July 19 - Cudmore Fishery, Staffordshire
Qualifiers so far
1. Dave Swain (Stockport, Cheshire)
2. Darren Cox (Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire)
3. Les Thompson (Dudley, West Midlands)
4. John Coster (Dagenham, Essex)
5. Chris Ellett (Hulme, Manchester)
6. Peter Rice (Redditch, Worcestershire)
7. Matt Hall (Awsworth, Nottinghamshire)
8. Matthew Smith (Stourbridge, West Midlands)
9. Jon Arthur (Coventry, West Midlands)
10. Andy May (Middlewich, Cheshire)
11. Jamie Hughes (The Wirral, Merseyside)
12. Neil Machin (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire)
13. Paul Haines (Aintree, Liverpool)
14. Mick Bull (Warwick, Warwickshire)
15. Andrew Neal (Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales)
16. Greg Cooper (Mansfield, Nottinghamshire)
Previous Fish'O'Mania final performances
Neil Machin - 1st (2006), 2nd (2004)
Matt Hall - 1st (2003), 10th (2006)
Darren Cox - 2nd (2003), 4th (2004)
Jon Arthur - 3rd (2006)
Dave Swain - 6th (2005), 13th (2006), 14th (1995)
The rest of the finalists will be making their debut this year.
The 2008 PartyPoker.com Fish'O'Mania will be broadcast live for six hours in the UK and Ireland on Sky Sports and will later be edited into a two-hour highlights package, which will be broadcast around the world.
TO find out about broadcasting Fish'O'Mania, contact Karen Manzi, Matchroom Sport's Head of TV Sales, on +44 1869 340940.
Date posted: July 3, 2008
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