Oliver Ortmann (born 11 June 1967) is a German professional

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

player from

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

. Ortmann is a three-time world champion, winning the 1995

WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Spor ...

and the 2007 and 2010

World Straight Pool Championship The World Straight Pool Championship is a pool competition, that was held up until the game of Nine-ball became popularized in America. It was the most prestigious straight pool tournament up until the early 21st century, tournaments like the Amer ...

. Ortmann became the second player (after

Earl Strickland Earl Strickland (born June 8, 1961) is an American professional pool player who is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. He has won over 100 championship titles and three world titles. In 2006 he was inducted into the Billiar ...

) to win three WPA world championships. With fourteen wins, he the second most successful player (after

Ralf Souquet Ralf Souquet ( ; born 29 November 1968) is a German professional pool player. His nickname is "The Kaiser". Since 1988, he has won more than 200 tournament titles, including 23 Euro Tour titles, 20 European Pool Championship and 12 German Pool ...

) at the

European Pool Championships European Pool Championship (also called Dynamic European Championships) is a pool competition organized by the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). The tournament is held annually since 1980. It should not be confused with the series of small ...

. Ortmann is also the second most successful player (after

) on the

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation. The Tour's first event was the ''Belgium Open'', held on May 29 – 31, 1992. The event was won by M ...

, winning fourteen events. Ortmann was the first non-American player to win the

U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship The U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship was a pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a str ...

, in 1989. He has represented Europe eight times in the annual

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

competition between 1994 and 2004, and was on the winning side in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. With 44 German national medals and 16

German Pool Championship German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

s, Ortmann is one of the most successful German pool players of all time. In 1996, he was the first

cue sports Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

player to receive the

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and ...

, the highest sporting award given in Germany. Ortmann was inducted into the Straight Pool Hall of Fame in an August 2013 ceremony in New York City. The following year, he was inducted into the

Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory, and Mexico, though ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Career

Early career

Ortmann was born and raised in

, Germany. At age six he began playing on a pool table in the basement of his parents' restaurant. Ortmann won his first championship in 1985 at age 17 (the 8-Ball Junior European championships), defeating Sweden's Per Anda in the final. The following year he won his first German national championship (the

straight pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many billiard balls as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of pool played in professional ...

championship), after meeting

Thomas Engert Thomas Engert is a German professional pool player. Engert won the 2004 International Challenge of Champions beating fellow German Thorsten Hohmann in the finals. When he returned to the tournament one year later, Engert was close to winning ...

in the final. Ortmann studied in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

to become an electronics technician, and at age 20 he became the manager of a billiard centre with 80 pool and billiard tables. He was the first player from Europe to win the

in 1989. He won the event despite it being his first trip outside of Europe. As a relative unknown, Ortmann defeated Steve Mizerak in the final. Ortmann also won his first of numerous

European Pool Championship European Pool Championship (also called Dynamic European Championships) is a pool competition organized by the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). The tournament is held annually since 1980. It should not be confused with the series of small ...

events that year, beating Waldemar Markert in the straight-pool final.

Professional career (1993–2010)

He entered his first

event in 1993, finishing second at that year's German Open and winning the following events in Austria and Hungary. Ortmann won his second US championship later that year, again in straight pool. He won five Euro Tour events the following year (four in a row), and finished second twice. During the nine-event season, Ortmann reached the finals seven times. He won his first world championship (the 1995

), playing the American

Dallas West Dallas West (born 1941, Rockford, Illinois) is an American pool player and was inducted into the Billiards Congress of America Hall of Fame in 1996. West is known for having a strong competitive spirit and is respected by his peers as being a ...

in the final. In 1996, Ortmann was the first cue-sports player to receive the

; fellow pool player

won the award the following year. Ortmann won the winner-take-all

International Challenge of Champions The International Challenge of Champions is an annual nine-ball pool tournament held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has always been broadcast on ESPN and is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association. As of 2009, four ...

event in 1997. He was runner-up two years later, losing the final to

Francisco Bustamante Francisco Bustamante (born December 29, 1963) is a Filipino professional pool player from Tarlac, Central Luzon and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the 1966 film of the same name, In 2000, however, Ortmann defeated Bustamante in the final for his second championship. Ortmann formed Ortmann Billiards, a pool-product manufacturer and retailer, in 2004. Although the company specializes in cue sports such as pool, snooker and

carrom Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. The game is very popular in the Indian subcontinent, and is known by various names in different languages. In Sou ...

, it also supports air hockey, darts and poker. Ortmann reached the final of the 2004 World Pool Masters, but was defeated 6–8 by

. Two years later, he joined the

International Pool Tour The International Pool Tour was a professional sports tour created in 2005 by Kevin Trudeau and hosted by Rebecca Grant. It aimed to elevate pool to the level of other modern sports. Closely modeled on the PGA Tour, the IPT offered the largest pri ...

and continued competing in events sanctioned by other organizations. Ortmann won the 2007

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

, defeating Danny Barouty 200–56,

Dennis Orcollo Dennis Orcollo (born January 28, 1979), is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "RoboCop" and has been called "The Money-Game King" throughout the Philippines and the United States. Early life Orcollo is the second of four brothers. ...

200–7, and Danny Harriman 200–123 to reach the final. There, he defeated

Huidji See Huidji See (born 30 May 1981 in Arnhem, Netherlands, also known as Huidji Lake) is a Dutch pool and billiards player. He was the 2011 WPA World 10-Ball Pool Champion. Career Early life See was born in 1981 in the Netherlands, the son of Chinese ...

200–171 for his second world championship. Ortmann made the tournament's third-highest , a 131. He also played in the 2007 World Pool Masters, defeating

Naoyuki Ōi is a Japanese pool player. Ōi is best known for reaching the semi-final of the 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, and represented Japan at the World Cup of Pool on six occasions. Career In July 2005, Ōi competed in the 2005 WPA World ...

8–3 in the first round before losing 3–8 in the quarter-finals to

David Alcaide David Alcaide Bermúdez (born 14 December 1978) is a Spanish pool player. He is a two-time winner of the World Pool Masters, winning the 2017 event, defeating Jayson Shaw 8–7 in the final, and again in 2019 defeating Alexander Kazakis 9� ...

. Ortmann reached the quarter-finals of the 2008 world straight pool championship (which he won the previous year) before losing to

Jasmin Ouschan Jasmin Ouschan (; born 10 January 1986) is an Austrian professional pool player from Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Her first professional competition occurred in 2002, but she did not officially become a professional member of the Women's Professional ...

133–200. He progressed to the semifinals the following year, defeating Earl Herring and

Jonni Fulcher Jonathan (Jonni) Fulcher (born 22 September 1974 in Inverness, Scotland) is a Scottish professional pocket billiards player. He currently resides in Geneva, Switzerland and competes throughout the world. Early days Fulcher first began to play s ...

before losing to

Mika Immonen Mika Immonen (born 17 December 1972) is a Finnish professional Hall of Fame pool player, nicknamed "The Iceman." Career Immonen won the 2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deu ...

. Ortmann won his third world championship in 2010, defeating Immonen in the straight-pool final. Since the straight-pool tournament (also known as the World Tournament) is no longer sanctioned by the WPA, Ortmann remains the last official world straight-pool champion. He is the second player to win three world championships, after

(who won the nine-ball championship in 1990, 1991 and 2002).

Later career (2010–present)

Ortmann reached the semifinals of the 2010 World Pool Masters in May of that year, defeating

Darren Appleton Darren Appleton (born 8 February 1976) is an English pool player, best known for playing Eight-ball, Nine-ball and Ten-ball pool.

, Thorsten Hohmann and Thomas Engert before losing 3–8 to Toru Kuribayashi. He entered the 2011 WPA World Eight-ball Championship and defeated Mika Immonen 7–2 in the double-elimination round before losing in the round of 32 to

Ronato Alcano Ronato (Ronnie) Alcano (pronounced al-kah-no) (born 27 July 1972 in Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines), is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Ronnie ''Calamba''" and "the Volcano". He won both the 2006 WPA World Nine-ball Champion ...

. Ortmann defeated in the first knockout round, followed by

Nick van den Berg Nick van den Berg (born 24 May 1980) is a Dutch professional pool player. He was the runner up at the 2005 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he lost to Wu Chia-ching 11–5 in the final. He is a multiple time winner of events on the Eu ...

and Li Hewen, before losing to eventual champion

Chang Jung-Lin Chang Jung-lin (born May 2, 1985) is a Taiwanese 8-ball and Nine-ball pool player. He became WPA World Eight-ball Champion in 2012 and won the silver medal at the 2013 World Games for Nine-ball. Jun-Lin is a former world number 1, having don ...

the following year. His

wins include the 2009 Netherlands Open. This victory, Ortmann's 14th on the tour, placed him second on the all-time list of winners behind

(23). He has reached the semifinals of a tour event 35 times, with eight second-place finishes. Otmann was inducted into the Straight Pool Hall of Fame during a ceremony in New York City in August 2013. Two years earlier, he said: "It would be a great honor for me to be one day inducted into the

Straight Pool Straight pool, which is also called 14.1 continuous and 14.1 rack, is a cue sport in which two competing players attempt to as many billiard balls as possible without playing a . The game was the primary version of pool played in professional ...

Hall of Fame with the greatest players in straight pool." In 2014, Ortmann was inducted into the

with promoter and historian Charles Ursitti. He is a three-time European player of the year, receiving the award in 1990, 1993, and 1996.

Team events

Ortmann first represented Europe at the

in the first competition in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

with the United States winning 16–12. The following year, Ortmann competed in the Continent's first win, and Ortmann was also on the winning side in

. The 2002 victory with Ortmann was described by six-time

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

world champion

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

as "one of the best moments of my career". Ortmann competed in the team on eight occasions (1994,

, 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004), and was the non-playing captain in 2003. Ortmann's eight appearances is the fifth most of any European player. At the

World Cup of Pool The World Cup of Pool is an annual international single-elimination tournament for doubles teams in nine-ball pool competition. The event has been dominated by the Philippines and China, with both nations winning the event on three occasions. Hi ...

, Ortmann has represented Germany three times. He and

reached the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

semifinals, losing to eventual winners

Efren Reyes Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954), popularly known by the nickname "Bata" (English: "Kid"), is a Filipino professional pool player. Reyes is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. A winner of over 100 inte ...

and

Christian Reimering Christian Reimering is a professional pool player from Leverkusen, Germany. Reimering reached the last-16 stage of the world championship on four occasions. He did so at the 1993, 1998, and 2010 event in nine-ball, and the 2005 WPA World Eight-b ...

lost in the first round to Singapore's Chan Keng Kwang and Toh Lian Han. He and

reached the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

semifinals, where they were defeated by eventual winners Li Hewen and

Fu Jianbo Fu Jianbo (sometimes referred to as Jianbo Fu in Western media) is a professional pool player from the People's Republic of China. Career In 2007, Fu along with Li Hewen represented China at the 2007 World Cup of Pool. The pair won the event ...

of China. Ortmann appeared at the World Team Championship in

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, reaching the quarter-finals in 2010.

Career titles

References

External links

*
Profile of Ortmann
at ''Pool Billiard News'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortmann, Oliver 1967 births Living people German pool players Sportspeople from Hamburg World champions in pool WPA World Nine-ball Champions Straight pool world champions Sportspeople from Gelsenkirchen