Played the recent Eurotour in Finland. Was in a lovely hotel within a shopping centre 5 mins away from Helsinki Airport. The tables were set up over 3 different floors as the tournament progressed with lots of Finnish shoppers taking an interest in the event. The tournament setup was different but refreshing with a good contingent of Finnish players participating.
I had a pretty tough draw to qualify on paper playing my buddy Raj  Hundal first match and then playing Artem Koshovoy the no1 ranked player in Ukraine to play a good Austrian player to qualify for the last 32. Anyway I played pretty good and won 8-4, 8-7 and 8-3 to qualify for the knockout last 32 stage where I drew David alcaide from Spain who beat me 8-5. Have seen alot easier draws than that in my time. So in the end I finished 17th. Alot of people might say thats good but according to my standards was a below par performance.
Am not one for excuses but I cant beat my self up because I have a bad shoulder where I injured myself in the gym two days before the event because I didnt stretch before working out. During my matches I was wearing a heat patch on my shoulder and was'nt quite comfortable when down on some shots. Looking forward to the next Euro tour which is in Portugal by the beach in Albufera. Until then will be practicsing hard and doing some Physio work on the shoulder.

Am going to West End now with wifey for some lunch in Leicester Square and then to watch Avatar in 3D.

The Royal Carriage awaits.............gotta go!

The trials and tribulations of babysitting.

Oh no! today its Tuesday and its babysitting morning....Phuh!!! Sometimes babysitting can be fun and entertaining but sometimes can be an absolute nightmare. It was plain sailing this morning until the nappy came off !!! The art of nappy changing seems to be my nemesis.......it always falls off! No its not funny!!Maybe its because my 3 year old nephew is quite hyper and loves jumping around the place or the nappy fasteners are simply no good. Its like the fourth or fifth time this has happened however much care and attention I put in when fastening the nappy. Think next time I will get some heavy duty masking tape and wrap it around the nappy about 100 times lol!! Nappy changing to me is like running a really tough rack of pool where every shot that you are faced with  is very difficult but you keep on getting them with a few jump shots along the way......then when you finish you let out a big sigh of releif.
Phew!! glad I got that over and done with it was like I had just finished a race to 100 with Bustamante!
Two minutes later the 3 year old started crying at the top of his voice and would'nt stop! He had been fed and had a clean nappy on so what now! I was snookered with no rails to kick at and no jump shot available!
At this stage it was getting a bit silly and I could'nt even phone my sister because she was in a meeting with a client. I tried and tried to think of a solution while bouncing him in my arms walking around the whole house hoping that he would stop bellowing in my earhole.
Aha! I had an idea.......would take him for a cruise round the block in the car. As I fitted the baby seat in the car the baby was still crying very loud and Valerie the oap from next door opened her window and said ' everything ok Imran'..............Yes Valerie we are fine just taking him for a little drive I said........make sure you fasten him in properly Imran........Yes Valerie I will do I replied furiously my face totally red with embarrasment. Anyway got into the car and put the radio on....... it was Snoop Dog!! Lo and behold the little terror stopped crying. I was over the moon at this point could'nt beleive it, my nephew had stopped crying and was now smiling!!.
We then set off for a little cruise both of us smiling and nodding our heads to the rapping of Snoop Dog!

Thanks Snoop your my favourite!

Sister got back at 1pm thank god and I rush out to Demons to continue my practice regime. Hope its easier than my morning!                       Chow for now!!

The forthcoming Eurotour in Finland is approaching and last year at this event I came second place so have to put in a good performance to defend my points otherwise I will drop down the rankings. Played 10 ball yesterday and gave some good local players big handicaps where I was'nt the favourite at all. Anyway i dug deep and i won four very close sets of 10 ball.
One of my motos is work, rest, and play so today i will only play for about two hours and then rest for the remainder of the day, maybe watch a few movies in the Royal Cinema. Might have a crack at the 15 ball ghost today, let you know how I get on.

Wanted to mix up my practice so I deided to play some 'kick pool'.
Your rack  for 9 ball and beak. Any balls made on the break are respotted.You have to kick 5 balls in before your opponent. You can kick any ball in doesnt have to be in numerical order. I usually start by playing one rail kicks then move to 2 rail kicks and so on. When playing one rail kicks a player cannot attempt to kick a ball in which is within 6 inches from the pocket (would be too easy).
Its a good constuctive way to practice kick shots and gives the element of competition when playing against someone.

Spent the rest of the day chilling in The Royal Baths getting pampered by my servants.

Yipeeeee!! did eventually beat the 14 ball ghost yesterday. I was detemined to beat the 14ball ghost after numerous efforts on Wednesday. After coaching I went to my pool room Demons in Hounslow and set off on my mission. The first set I lost 9-4 and did'nt play very good. Got a bit frustrated because I was'nt running out some racks that I should. I then took a time out went to the toilet had a cup of tea and started another set. This time, I cleaned the balls and I put more effort into the break and racked the balls perfectly. Wow!! I was making 3-4 balls on the break, in one rack I made 5 balls. From then on I was getting easy runouts because I only had 10 or 11 balls to runout after the break. I beat the ghost 9-3 and let out a great sigh of relief. So in the end it was the break that was the key factor and the cleaning of the balls ensured that my racks were more frozen hence making more balls and getting easier layouts.

Did you know that Earl Strickland cleaned all the balls after every rack when he won one of his US Open titles.

Today my sister and brother in law with 4 nephews are coming round for dinner. I call them 'The Circus' but lets not go into that. I have elected myself to make one of my famous chicken curries. A dish fit for Maharaja's. Yes I can cook, its one of my hobbies, am not just good at pool! lol! My chicken curry is a lovely concoction of traditional herbs and spices but also has an element of Thai food involved too. I like to add some lime and a bit of coconut which compliment the indian spices once mixed together with the meat. (been watching too much Master Chef) haha!

The Maharaja's famous chiken curry, voted 'The Best Curry of 2010'.................in my house lol!!!

Off to do some coaching at the Hurricane room. Anyone else interested can pm me at pro9 or email me at maharajaofpool@yahoo.com.  Gotta go! my elephant and cavalry is waiting for me in the courtyard of the Royal palace.  Catch up with you later guys!

Phew !! just got back from practice....am knackered did a solid four hours. Practice thesedays is tougher than usual because it is the month of Ramadan where I have to fast (not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset).
Anyway I played 'The Ghost' today. For those who dont know, the ghost is an imaginary person that you have to beat in a game of pool. Its a good way of giving you an incentive to practice by trying to beat this imaginary person.You rack the balls up and break. Then you get ball in hand and you have to run out the complete rack. If you miss the ghost is awarded the rack. Yes, the ghost doesnt miss so you best make sure you dont either. Back in the day I started with the 9ball ghost but would easily beat it so I upgraded to the 10 ball then the 11 ball ghost and so forth. I have beaten all the ghosts upto the 14 ball ghost which I am playing thesedays. Gosh he's a tough player!! I couldnt beat him today I tried five sets racing to 9. He beat me 9-4, 9-6,9-3,9-6 and 9-7.  However I cant beat myself up about it because when playing 14 ball there is always alot of traffic and clusters to deal with so sometimes a rack can be very difficult. So, considering the difficulty of the 14 ball ghost my scorelines are not bad especially the 9-7 where i ran out some very tricky racks. One rack involved 2 kick shots a combination and 2 banks! It felt real good though after running it!
Try it yourself starting with the 9ball ghost and move upwards. Gonna beat that 14 ball ghost tomorrow !! GGGRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Played the Demons Double Trouble event on Sunday and lo and behold i won! The tournament has an exciting new format where if you win the lag you can choose the discipline you want to play ,8,9 or 10 ball.
I had to give some people a handicap but played good enough to win. I think this is the 3rd or 4th consecutive tournament win at Demons. See what I mean about running tournaments.

Anyway that was on Sunday. Today i am starting my practice regime shot for the forthcoming Euro tour in Finland.When I first started practicsing I used to just spread the balls out on the table and run out rack after rack but that became boring and most of the time i was running out and there was no real challenge. Now i concentrate on parts of my game which need improving. With the break off shot being such an integral part of the game I spend alot of time these days breaking rack after rack. I will do 100 break off shots and have a scoring system to monitor each break and its performance.
There is 1 point for each ball i make, 2 points for a good cue ball,minus 2 points for a scratch and minus 3 points for a dry break. So really I am trying my best not to dry break or scratch which have a penalty.  I know it can take a long time and be quite physically demanding to rack up and execute 100 breaks so maybe you can try 20 or 30 and see how you get on. I usually get a friend for me to rack the balls with the aid of a magic rack. Try it see how you get on......

After practice off to watch the new box office hit The Expendables.

A very warm welcome to the Kingdom of the Maharaja

Hi All, first of all thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. This is a great opportunity for everyone to gain more of an insight into my great kingdom. As you may know the meaning of the word Maharaja means Indian King but the actual dictionary definition means 'King of Kings'.


Within my blog I will be telling you about my latest conquests as I travel the world with my army of  elephants and tigers. Also i will be letting out some of my secrets in how to become a prolific tournament winner. We are not talking about winning a tournament once in a while we are talking about running tournaments. Last year I ran four consecutive tournaments on the great GB9ball tour which is  most definately the toughest pool tour in Europe full of world champions and the countries greatest cueists. Also i will be talking about my recent accolade of winning the world title of The World Teams Championships 2010 which was hosted in Germany where the Dream Team went on to take the coveted title beating the Phillipines in the final.


May the rolls be with you!!.............The Maharaja