Oliver Ortmann is a German top professional pool

Pocket billiards

Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...

 player whose nickname

Nickname

A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

 is "The Machine". He is renowned not only as a World Champion in Nine-Ball but also in the resurgent discipline of 14.1 or straight pool

Straight Pool

Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...

.

A native-born Hamburger, Ortmann is one of the most successful European players. He first came to prominence by defeating Steve Mizerak

Steve Mizerak

Steve Mizerak , nicknamed "the Miz", was a world champion pool player dominant during the 1970s and early 1980s in the game of 14.1 continuous....

 to win the 1989

1989 in sports

1989 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Marc Girardelli, Luxembourg** Women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland-American football:...

 US Open 14.1 Championship. In 1995

1995 in sports

1995 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Alberto Tomba, Italy** Women's overall season champion: Vreni Schneider, Switzerland-American football:...

, he became the WPA Men's Nine-ball World Champion.

Ortmann won the International Challenge of Champions

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...

 in 1997. He won it for the second time, against the defending champion Francisco Bustamante

Francisco Bustamante

Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...

, three years later

In 2004, Ortmann formed Ortmann Billiards, a company which sells pool products. Two years later he joined the International Pool Tour

International Pool Tour

The International Pool Tour is a professional sports tour created in 2005 by Kevin Trudeau and hosted by Rebecca Grant. It aims to elevate pool to the level of other modern sports. Closely modeled on the PGA Tour, the IPT offered the largest prize funds in pool history in its first year. The tour...

, and also continued competing in events sanctioned by other organizations.

Ortmann also won the 2007 WPA World Straight Pool Championship

World Straight Pool Championship

The World Straight Pool Championship is an annual pocket billiards competition held in New Brunswick, New Jersey, since 2006. It is the current global professional title for straight pool , and is organized by Dragon Promotions, in part to restore the game's popularity in the United States...

 defeating Huidji See, 200-171 in the final match. During the tournament Ortmann made the third-highest of the tournament, 131. He would win that same tournament in 2010 in defeating Mika Immonen

Mika Immonen

Mika Immonen is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipHe has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the...

.

Titles and Achievements

(1st places major events)

• 2010 World Straight Pool Champion
• 2007 World Straight Pool Champion
• 2007 European Eight-ball Pool Champion
• 2006 European Eight-ball Pool Champion
• 2003 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 2002 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 2002 Mosconi Cup
  Mosconi Cup
  The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested between teams representing Europe and the USA since 1994. The trophy is named after American player Willie Mosconi, and is modeled on and compared to the Ryder Cup in golf...
  
   winning team captain
• 2000 International Challenge of Champions Winner
• 1999 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 1998 Ultimate 9-Ball Challenge Champion
• 1997 International Challenge of Champions Winner
• 1996 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 1996 European Eight-ball Pool Champion
• 1995 World 9-Ball Champion
• 1995 Mosconi Cup winning team captain
• 1994 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 1993 US Open Straight Pool Champion
• 1993 European Nine-ball Pool Champion
• 1989 US Open Straight Pool Champion

European Player of the Year 1990, 1993, 1996

• 13 time European Tour Champion
• 44 German Championship medals
• 28 European Championship medals

External links

• Official Page
• Profile of Ortmann at Pool Billiard News
• Oliver Ortmann video interview by CueTable