„Veni, vidi, vici!!!” – these were the exact words of the team of Poland after the tournament in Pecs. In �Hungarian Open” history there were quite a few Polish accents but never before were there four Poles on the podium. The winner was Hubert Lopotko who defeated Slawomir Nowak in the final, third places went to Karol Skowerski and Tomasz Kaplan.

      „Dynamic Billiard Best of the East” played in Hungary had always gathered many excellent players. This time was no different. The full squad of stars arrived; amongst them were: Sandor Tot and Milos Verkic , Vilmos Foldes , Jaroslav Polach , Melkonian Babken  also Radoslaw Babica and Tomasz Kaplan . The defending 2006 winner Mateusz Sniegocki  was there, ready to defend the title. Altogether, there were 72 participants from 10 countries (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Lebanon, Armenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Russia).

      The first day went quietly on, with no major upsets; all favourites got through to the next day knock-out stages. Then, suddenly, it got nervous; in the match between former European Champion Sandor Tot against Hungarian Nagy Csaba, especially. The play did not go just right for the Serbian player and Nagy capitalized on his chances. The home supporters� pupil, Vilmos Foldes lost to Mariusz Skoneczny, and Karol Skowerski defeated Milos Verkic. Jaroslav Polach could not stand up to Hubert Lopotko and so, he joined the quickly growing group of losers; some of its members already were: Mateusz Sniegocki (lost 7:9 to Dominik Zajac), 2006 Liberec Euro-Tour winner Wojciech Trajdos (lost 7:9 to N. Csaba) and Radoslaw Babica (lost 7:9 to T.Kaplan).

      There was an interesting situation at the top of the ranking chart: it was the fifth tournament of the Dynamic Biliard 2007 Best of the East Series, and the last. Quarterfinals� group of competitors consisted of five Polish, two Hungarian and one Romanian players. Then, only two players had the chance for the ranking win: Tomasz Kaplan (ranking leader) and Karol Skowerski (nr 2 on the list). Both got through to the Semifinals and their matches were watched closely. Kaplan lost his semifinal match to S. Nowak and, all of a sudden, it was enough for Skowerski just to advance to the final to win the overall ranking (he would have as many points as Kaplan but he was the winner of one of the tournaments in this year�s Best of the East – the Ukrainian Open, whilst Kaplan had only got podium places – no wins). The hopes did not last long; Hubert Lopotko was in too good a form and buried Skowerski�s hopes, pronto.

      The final match was quick. Slawomir Nowak played a good game but Lopotko remained undefeated. �At last, I played quite a good game” he said �clearances, good break-offs and it�s all done!!!”. Nowak was also quite happy; for him the runner up place in such a tournament was the assurance that he can play well and win over the best players. Kaplan was celebrating the success in the general ranking; the winner of the series has the guaranteed place in the National Team and paid participation costs in the Euro-Tour and Dynamic Billiard Best of the East 2008. There were unhappy faces too: Skowerski lost his chance just by a fraction.

      As always, Hungarian Open took place in Fordan Billiard Centre. Players played on 16 Dynamic tables covered with the Simonis 860 cloth and they used Aramith Super Pro balls – nothing more perfect to play pool. The tournament went smoothly thanks to Grzegorz Kedzierski (the Head Referee) and to the perfect preparation by Mr Vilmos Foldes (senior), who represented the Hungarian Billiard Federation. The complimentary gifts for them and others who co-organized the tournament were presented by the EPBF Board Member Marcin Krzeminski, who is also the Tournament Director and the Managing Director of Mak Marketing, the organizer of the Best of the East.

      Final results:

	1/4 final				1/2 final				Final
	Tomasz Kap�an 9 Bence Varga 6
					Tomasz Kap�an 4 S�awomir Nowak 9
	S�awomir Nowak 9 Csaba Nagy 7
									S�awomir Nowak 6 Hubert �opotko 9
	Karol Skowerski 9 Ioan Ladanyi 6
					Karol Skowerski 6 Hubert �opotko 9
	Hubert �opotko 9 Dominik Zaj�c 6

DYNAMIC BILLARD BEST OF THE EAST 2007
      DYNAMIC BILLIARD BEST of the EAST, the series of tournaments with a ten-year tradition, is now very much a significant event in a European sports calendar. For many players, especially those from Eastern Europe, it constitutes the first major step towards the career on an international scale.

In 2007, the series consisted of five tournaments. Here is the list of winners:

	Slovakia Open	–	Komarno	–	Sandor Tot
	Ukraine Open	–	Chmielnicki	–	Karol Skowerski
	Bulgaria Open	–	Burgas	–	Mateusz �niegocki
	Polish Open	–	Miko��w	–	Pawe� Rogalski
	Hungaria Open	–	Pecs	–	Hubert �opotko

Taking part altogether, there were 279 participants form 15 countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Armenia, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Belarus, Lebanon, Hungary). The total prize money amounted to 19, 200 Euro. It can be observed that players from Poland have been dominating the series this year; it is unfortunately due to the lack of financial support for the players in other, respective countries, that does not make it possible for their representatives to participate in all tournaments throughout the year. Automatically, it reflects on their placement in the overall ranking. It is also worth the attention that, this year we had a large group of new players enrolling into the Series.

      For all the above it has been a great success this year. However, none of this could have happened if it was not for the reliability of host organizers of individual tournaments and the support of sponsors. Many, many thanks to all of them, especially to partners of Mak Marketing: the company Weekend from Kiev, Real-Bilard from Sofia, the Mayor of the Town of Mikolow, the Mario Club from Mikolow, National Billiard Federations of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

     As a Tournament Director I would like to thank my friends and partners, involved in the organisation: Andrey Zastrovtsev , Vladimir Popow , Ladislav Šramek , Vilmos Foldes , Grzegorz K�dzierski  i Waldemar D�bski . Many thanks to our sponsors: Dynamic Billiard, Iwan Simonis, Saluc (Aramith) and International Billiard Promotion (IBP).

Kielce, 18.10.2007

Managing Director
Mak Marketing
Marcin Krzeminski