Thorsten Hohmann

Early life

Thorsten was born and raised in Fulda, Germany and at a very young age had always been interested in sports, playing football, table tennis and badminton. At the age of nine Thorsten's father took him to a local pool hall. On his 10th birthday Thorsten received a miniature pool table. By age twelve Thorsten and a friend began playing pool at a local pool hall. By age 16 he had won his first open adult tournament, of 128 players in the state of Hessia.^[2]

Europe-based career

In 2003 Hohmann reached the finals of the World Pool League but lost to Rodney Morris, 8–3.^[3] Later in 2003, Thorsten would win the 2003 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, defeating previous champion Earl Strickland in the semi-final, before defeating Alex Pagulayan in the final 17–10.^[4] He became the third German to become World Champion after Oliver Ortmann (1995) and Ralf Souquet (1996).

US-based career

In 2004, Hohmann signed on to be managed by US- and South Korea-based event promotions company Dragon Promotions, who transplanted the German-resident champion to Jacksonville, Florida, as a base of practice and preparation for US competitions. Hohmann then signed with Florida-based sponsors Lucasi Cues and Universal Smartshaft as their official representative and spokesperson. He remains a German citizen, but a US permanent resident. Thorsten has since been featured on the cover of many pool magazines.^{[clarification needed]}

In 2004, Hohmann reached the finals of the US Open Nine-ball Championship. However, he lost to Gabe Owen, 3–11.

The year 2005 was his most successful to date as he dominated a number of tournaments, including the BCA Open Nine-ball Championship, the Sudden Death Seven-ball event^[5] and the World Pool League.^[6]

In 2006, he won the inaugural World Straight Pool Championship^[7] by defeating Thomas Engert 200–80. Later, he defeated Marlon Manalo 8–7 to win the IPT North American Open Eight-ball Championship with a first prize of US$350K.^[8] The IPT prize set a record as the largest first prize ever won in a pool tournament at that time. However, Efren Reyes beat the record shortly afterwards by winning $500,000 in the 2006 IPT World Open Eight-ball Championship, the second major IPT event.