Kim Tae-ho, an office worker → a full-time billiard player, became the first champion of the Dream Tour Finals
Kim Tae-ho, an office worker → a full-time billiard player, became the first champion of the Dream Tour Finals
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Kim Tae-ho (40), who turned into a full-time billiard player after 13 years of working, has become the first champion of the Pro-Danggu Dream Tour (Part 2).
Kim Tae-ho defeated Kim Sung-min with a set score of 3-0 (15-9 15-9 15-2) in the final of the "2024-25 PBA Dream Tour Final" held at Goyang Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province on the 4th.
Kim has thus secured the highest prize money of 20 million won (20,000 U.S. dollars), the highest ever for the Dream Tour. At the same time, he garnered 15,000 points in the ranking, jumping from the previous 11th to the top of the PBA, and has confirmed promotion to the top 20 players for the next season's PBA first division tour.
Kim Tae-ho, who made his debut in the Challenge Tour (part 3) in the 2020-21 season, was promoted to the Dream Tour the following year, ranked No. 7 in the fourth round, and was promoted to the first division. However, as he worked and played as a player, he failed to show any remarkable results in the first division and moved back to the second division. In the second division, he was also eliminated in the first round of this season. However, he ranked 11th by ranking second in the third round and in the round of 16 in the sixth round, and advanced to the final.
In the final match, Kim lost 1-3 until the third inning of the first set, but scored three runs in the fourth inning and six runs in the fifth inning, quickly turning the game around 10-3. Since then, he has accumulated scores and won the first set 15-9 in 12 innings.
In the second set, Kim led the game 8-4, including six points in three innings and two points in five innings. However, Kim succeeded in turning the game around 9-8, by scoring six points including two bank shots in the eighth inning. Kim scored 2-1-2 without a strike, reaching 15 points, and added a set of 15-9.
In the third set, Kim Tae-ho led the game by 8-2 until seven innings, completing 15 points in 12 innings to finish the game 15-2.
After the game, Kim Tae-ho said, "I'm thrilled as if I won the first part of the tour." "Two months ago, I quit my job as a technical salesperson for 13 years and went all-in as a billiard player," he said. "I decided after thinking about it for four to five years to overcome the limits I felt during my experience in the first part of the tour." "I've practiced so hard that I've played more than 100 games in the past two months," he said. "I want to stay in the first part of the next season, and if possible, I want to achieve a quarterfinal or higher performance."
The "Dream Tour Final" is a competition in which the top 64 players in the points rankings combined with the results of seven regular tours participated in this season. After a group of 16 teams of four players, the top and second-ranked players of the group advanced to the round of 32 tournaments to determine the winner. Kim Tae-ho, who advanced to the round of 32 with three wins in 11 group matches, advanced to the final by beating Kim Jae-won, Choi Jong-bok, Kim Min-gun, and Yoon Soon-jae in turn to win the championship with eight wins. 먹튀검증
After finishing the Dream Tour Final, PBA will resume the fifth round of the "Welcome Savings Bank PBA Team League 2024-25" at KINTEX Stadium in Goyang from the 7th.