In 2016, Immonen won the world title in straight pool in New York City against Earl Strickland (above), his former mentor, who has been called the Michael Jordan of pool.
MIKA Immonen, a two-time world champion pool player from Finland known as the Iceman, who was admired as much for his physical stamina and mental acuity during competitions as he was for his skill at the game.
The Finn, who died on Sept 28 in New York City, was 52.
His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his friend Alex Masucci, who said the cause was cancer. Immonen had learned in late 2023 that he had Stage 4 colorectal cancer.
When Immonen was around 15, he started shooting pool as an indoor alternative to playing ice hockey in the bitter cold.
For someone who excelled at a sport not known for its athletic requirements, Immonen was adamant about exercising daily and limiting his intake of carbohydrates.
He said he believed that the focus he applied to his workouts translated into heightened concentration during competitions and that any pool player who didn’t exercise wasn’t trying hard enough to improve at the game.
“My favourite expression of his was ‘Mercy is a disease’ – if you feel sorry for your opponent, it’s contagious,” said Jonathan Smith, a house professional pool player at Society Billiards and Bar in New York City, where Immonen competed in recent years.
“He was a phenomenal shotmaker, and he played at a very fast clip, which made playing him even more intimidating.”
Immonen won a number of US and international tournaments, including the World Pool-Billiard Association’s World Nine-Ball Championship in 2001; back-to-back US Open Nine-Ball Championship titles in 2008 and 2009; and the WPA World 10-Ball Championship in 2009.
In 2016, he won the world title in straight pool in New York City against Earl Strickland, his former mentor, who has been called the Michael Jordan of pool.
But the game that elevated Immonen to elite circles was his 2001 win against Ralf Souquet of Germany.
Upon sinking the final nine ball, Immonen collapsed on the table and broke into tears while the crowd chanted, “Mika! Mika!”
After that, “everybody knew me,” he said in a 2010 video interview with Jim Murnak, a maker of custom pool-cue cases. “I was like, ‘What is this? I’m famous.’”
The victory bolstered his ego.
“He got such a buzz from winning the world title,” The Evening Standard of London noted in a 2001 profile, “that for a week afterward he answered the telephone with the words: ‘Hello, Mika Immonen, world champion.’”
Immonen exhibited a degree of arrogance that complemented his Iceman moniker, which he gained for his cold stare and steely demeanour at the table.
“They tell me I look mean on TV,” he said in a 2006 interview. “But I just say that’s the way I play. It’s serious business.”
Mika Ilari Immonen was born Dec 17, 1972, in London and was named after bestselling Finnish author Mika Waltari. His father, Ilkka, was a tailor; his mother, Laura Paloheimo, studied interior architecture but turned her focus to raising Mika, his twin brother and their older sister.
Mika was three when his parents divorced. Four years later, his mother moved the children to Helsinki, Finland’s capital.
When he was around 15, a billiards hall and arcade opened two blocks from his home, and he and his brother and their friends started shooting pool as an indoor alternative to playing ice hockey in the bitter cold.
The popular game at the time was kaisa, or karoliina, which was more challenging than American pool because it was played on tables with pockets so tight that there was barely enough room for the balls to enter.
“Within a short period of time, I discovered that I had talent,” Immonen said in the 2010 video interview. “I was doing all these shots with very high accuracy.”
About a year later, the pool hall’s owners encouraged him to enter a tournament in a nearby city, and he won.
The prize was a ham, which he sold for US$100 (RM420). At 17, he beat Russian professional player Ashot Potikyan.
Immonen began playing snooker and other games. He competed regularly and often won, using his prize money to travel and play in more competitions.
In 1992, when he was 20, he quit smoking and took up running, eventually competing in marathons, which he saw as a pure form of endurance training for life – and, of course, for pool.
“In a sense, you can relate that when you’re playing a game of pool,” he said in the 2010 interview.
“Sometimes you have these doubts or stupid ideas in your mind, ‘Hey I don’t feel like doing this now,’ but then you’re like, ‘Come on man, keep fighting.’”
In 2014, he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.
Immonen is survived by his mother; his sister, Rea Paloheimo; three half brothers, Jaakko Nevasto, Mikko Immonen and Christian Olsen; and his partner, Emily Elizabeth Blair Kerr Keaty. His twin brother, Kari, died this year. – NYT
