Qlympics Hosts Elite in First Two of Four US Open Billiards Events

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Qlympics Hosts Elite in First Two of Four US Open Billiards Events
Three bankers remain, eight contend for one-pocket title

by Paul Berg, InsidePOOL Magazine Staff
Despite a turnout hampered by the World 9-ball Championships currently in progress in Manila, top bank pool and one-pocket players have survived to the latter stages of U.S. Open events in their billiards disciplines at the Qlympics. Moving these events to the Clarion Hotel Conference Center in Louisville, KY, from their home in Las Vegas for a number of years has brought more of the premier bankers from the Midwest into a tight field of 36, and two-time Derby City 9-ball Banks division winner Jason Miller stands alone undefeated in the U.S. Open Bank Pool tournament. Unlike his triumphs across town at the Derby, Miller has had to display excellence in a full rack of 15 balls, adding more strategy to go along with his firepower.
The 2006 World All-Around champion from Dayton, OH, finished a run through the winners’ bracket that began Monday, defeating Owenton, KY, master John Brumback in the hot seat match this afternoon. Brumback missed far more often than usual in the 3-0 loss and will look to bounce back facing Indianapolis’ Brian Gregg in the semifinal tomorrow.
Gregg notched victories over tough contenders Ike Runnells and Rafael Martinez Chavez before taking his first loss to Miller, and on the one-loss side today he eliminated Tony “T-Rex” Chohan 3-1 and then Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton by the same score in the quarterfinal match. Gregg and Daulton have been fast friends ever since Gregg’s phenomenal comeback to win the $3,000-a-man banks ring game at the 2005 Derby City Classic and had an entertaining and blisteringly offensive bout. While past winner of this event Daulton took the first game, Gregg prevailed in the next, and after Daulton narrowly missed the 12 ball straight back with the score at seven balls each, Gregg sliced it perfectly cross-corner from the opposite end rail for a crucial 8-7 win to get a 2-1 lead. Daulton’s break was empty in the next, and Gregg pounced, running five banks in his first inning on the way to an 8-1 closer that left Somerset, KY-born Daulton in fourth place.
This evening will determine the final three in the U.S. Open One-Pocket competition as well, as eight remain from a field of 36. Daulton will face Chohan in the winners’-bracket final a little later. Each has trampled an impressive path thus far: Chohan with wins over Greg Sullivan, Chris Bartram, and Gabe Owen, and Daulton defeating Runnells, Gregg, young Cincinnati standout Shannon Murphy, and finally Sergio Perez.
Still alive on the B-side, Brumback and Miller will have another match today, playing one-hole this time with the loser settling for a tie for seventh place and the winner moving on to face Perez. Bartram is also still kicking and will play Rafael Martinez-Chavez for a shot at Owen.
The last three in each event will come back for the finale tomorrow, while U.S. Open competition in 10-ball and straight pool will begin Monday. If that wasn’t enough, the first of two $10,000 challenge matches begins tonight, with John Schmidt playing Danny Harriman in an all-around battle of one-pocket, straight pool, and 10-ball over three days. Stay tuned to InsidePOOLmag.com for all of the latest from the Qlympics in Louisville.

Banks and One-Pocket Divisions Winding Down at Qlympics

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Banks and One-Pocket Divisions Winding Down at Qlympics by Tom Fryer

The first two BCA U.S. Open tournaments are underway. Full-rack banks and one-pocket fields are down to their final eights as of Thursday morning, November 8.

The full-rack banks is a race to 3, true double elimination and is requiring a hard break. There were 35 entrants. Form is holding as the winners’ side finals has John Brumback facing Jason Miller. The left side of the board has Brian Gregg banking it out with Shawn Putnam, as well as Shannon Daulton matching up with Tony Chohan. First prize is $2100, with as much as $1600 added according to eligibility requirements related to residency and lodging.

The one-pocket matches are races to 4, with true double elimination. There were 36 entries. The winners’ final here pits Shannon Daulton and Tony Chohan. On the left side, Brumback and Jason Miller match up again in this event. Chris Bartram tangles with the exciting Rafael Martinez of Mexico. Sergio Perez and Gabe Owen complete the field. Prize money is the same as the banks. The top eight in each field will cash.

Despite the wealth of talent in action, Tony Chohan has really impressed with his powerful game. The only “people” to beat Tony was the airlines. His connections were bad and he had to forfeit his first round of banks. Since then he has not lost in either event, and he was super in some extracurricular bank pool action in a nearby room Tuesday night.

Tonight John Schmidt and Danny Harriman will play the straight pool portion of their 3-day, $20,000 winner-take-all challenge. 400 points of straight to be exact, followed by 10-ball and one-pocket marathons on Friday and Saturday to settle the cash. Admission for spectators is free for the open events and $10 for the challenges.

Make no mistake: this is a quality event. The turnouts have been light but there is and will be a ton of big-time pool played at the Clarion Convention Center in Louisville, KY, for 9 more days. The BCA is committed to making this event a major annual event, so if you can, get out and support it.

16 Still in the Hunt for World Billiards Title

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

16 Still in the Hunt for World Billiards Title
Following the conclusion of day six of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship there are just 16 players left chasing the biggest prize in the game. The Philippines have the largest contingent with four players left in the competition as Francisco Bustamante won a terrific encounter with Holland’s Nick Van Den Berg.
With a sell-out arena crowd at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Manila, the popular Filipino trailed 4-0 to the young Dutchman before gaining control of the table and running into a 9-4 lead.
Bustamante though, missed a 3 ball into the top left hand pocket when just a few shots from victory and van den Berg grabbed his chance.
He won rack after rack, utilizing the soft break and at 8-9 down looked the favourite to win. However, a rare dry break scuppered his chances and Bustamante cleared to the 8 ball before van den Berg, in a sporting gesture, threw his white towel onto the table and embraced his opponent.
“When I missed that 3 ball I thought I’ve got no more shots in this game. The table was easy breaking and everything was in his control,” said Bustamante afterwards.
“When it was 9-8 I thought I had no more chance but got lucky when he had no ball on the break,
“I’m very lucky to be in the last 16 but will try my best as I’m playing the small guy next – Alex Pagulayan!”
Van den Berg put on a brave face at his post match press conference but his pain was apparent; “I feel terrible right now. There was nothing I could do and even at 9-7 down I felt I had the best chance,” he said.
“I was not nervous the whole time. In fact was more nervous on Table 7 yesterday but if you want to beat Busti you cannot miss any balls,” he added.
Also flying the Filipino flag were young guns Roberto Gomez and Joven Bustamante who both won through against Taiwanese opposition.
Bustamante (no relation) beat former champ Wu Chia-ching 10-8 on the TV table while Gomez pounded former two-time champion Chao Fong-pang 10-2
The lone American left in the competition is Corey Deuel following the demise of a lackluster Shane Van Boening and Earl Strickland.
Deuel showed tremendous heart coming from 9-5 down to get the better of three-time Asian Tour winner Chang Jung-ling of Taiwan. His reward is a match-up with another dangerous Chinese Taipei player, Kuo Po-cheng, a runner-up in this event in 2005.
European No.1 Konstantin Stepanov looked impressive in beating local hope Jeff De Luna 10-5. De Luna is a real crowd pleaser but is often too brave on his shot selection and the 24 year-old Muscovite was too composed for him.
Another Eastern European, Vilmos Foldes, put paid to Shane Van Boening’s championship aspirations with a 10-8 win on Table 4. Foldes is the 2003 World Junior Champion and will face Lu Hui-chan who eliminated Poland’s Radoslaw Babica from the competition.
Last year’s runner-up Ralf Souquet also exited stage left as Niels Feijen took him down 10-2. Souquet was suffering from a bad back but Feijen, who was a quarter-finalist in this event in 2001, looks a good outside chance.
Two English players are through to Friday’s last 16 shake-up. Daryl Peach eliminated qualifier Lee Kun-fang’s, a finalist in this event in 1997, on Table 4 and now faces Germany’s Harry Stolka on Friday.
If European form is anything to go by, Peach is ranked No.2 on the EPBF rankings while Stolka is back at No.31.
Manchester’s Karl Boyes, playing in his first World Championship, came back from 8-5 down to win against bespectacled Korean Ryu Seung-woo. Boyes, a former top English 8 ball player, can look ahead to a do-or-die struggle against European No.1 Konstantin Stepanov (Russia).
Play moves to just two tables on Friday as the races increase to 11.

Peach on a run at 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

Peach on a run at 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship
Daryl Peach has continued his best-ever run in the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship. Yesterday, Peach, 35, defeated reigning World Champion Filipino Ronnie Alcano and he followed that up on Thursday with another stunning win in the Araneta Coliseum, Manila, Philippines.
Peach beat Chinese Taipei’s Lee Kun-fang, a runner-up in 1997, to move into the last 16 of the biggest pool competition of the year.
This is already Peach’s best ever performance in the tournament but he has a great chance for it to become even better as on Friday he meets German Harald Stolka, a player ranked 29 places below him in the European standings.
On paper it does look an appetising draw, said Peach. But he must be playing well and he beat Wu Yu-lun (Chinese Taipei) 10-2 so is also feeling good, like I am.
I’m just going to try to play the same way that I’ve done so before.
Peach lost his opening match against Matjaz Erculj (Slovenia) 9-1 on Tuesday and was only one more defeat away from elimination.
But victories over Rodolfo Luat (Philippines), Dharminder Singh Lilly (India), Alcano and now Lee have taken Peach into the last 16, only four wins away from becoming World Champion.
A total of 128 players from 46 countries started in this nine-day competition and the eventual winner will scoop the $100,000 top prize.
Peach admitted he was delighted to have performed so well, especially considering his shaky start.
I lost my first match 9-1 and only had four visits to the table in the whole match against a guy who had never beat me, said Peach.
After that I only had one hour to calm down before my next match and I was shocked more than anything. I had to pinch myself.
I had come all this way to Manila, hardly had a chance and got beat 9-1. But I’d done not much wrong so I got on with the next match against Rodolfo Luat (Philippines), won 9-3 and played a near-perfect match. After that my confidence came back.
I came here knowing I was playing well and I have been all season, with a few big wins. My intention was just to play each match the best I can and make the least amount of mistakes as possible.
The competition is being staged at the Araneta Coliseum, the venue for the legendary heavyweight contest between Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975.

Pagulayan Continues at World Pool Championship

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

Pagulayan Continues at World Pool Championship
Former billiards world champion Alex Pagulayan (Philippines) looked in good shape as he comfortably made his way through to the last 16 with a 10-2 victory over Australia’s Louis Condo.
Popular Pagulayan now will play either countryman Francisco Bustamante or Nick Van Den Berg of Holland in the last 16 on Friday.
On Table 4, unheralded German player Harry Stolka made his way in the last 16 and guaranteed a spot in next year’s event with a convincing 10-2 victory over 18 year-old Taiwanese qualifier Wu Yu-lun.
Stolka, who reached the last 32 in Kaohsiung in 2005, is a veteran of the EuroTour and the 32 year-old from Munich will face either Daryl Peach or Lee Kun-fang for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Tournament favourite Shane Van Boening crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes. 10-8 was the score and Foldes will be making his second last 16 appearance in three years.
Foldes was behind 6-4 in the first half of the game but dug deep to clinch the win. I was confident from the beginning and just played my game, he said.
Alain Martel, a bronze medalist in Cardiff in 2001, won again today to carry the flag for Canada. 10-2 was the scoreline and his victim was Serbia’s Goran Mladenovic.
Ex-champion Oliver Ortmann of Germany also departs the competition as he lost out to dangerous Taiwanese Kuo Po-cheng 10-7. Kuo was four balls away from winning this title in 2005 before Wu Chia-ching ran a four pack on him to steal the title.
There was joy for the Japanese contingent as veteran Satoshi Kawabata followed up his fine win over Yang Ching-sun yesterday with another fine performance to oust Vietnam’s touted Luong Chi Dung from the competition.
Kawabata now faces local Joven Bustamante for a place in Saturday’s quarter-finals.

Former Billiards Champ Wu Knocked Out

Posted by admin as Independent Tournaments - World Pool Championship

Former Billiards Champ Wu Knocked Out
Joven Bustamante, one of the unsung dangermen of Filipino pool, eased his way into the last 16 of the 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship at the expense of 2005 Champion Wu Chia-ching of Taiwan at the Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Manila.
The 29 year-old Bustamante is making his debut in the competition but a bronze medal at the WPA World 8-ball Championship earlier this year gives an idea of his pedigree.
Playing out of the same Bugsy’s stable as the likes of Ronnie Alcano, Dennis Orcollo and Antonio Gabica, the placid-looking Bustamante looked calm in his TV arena debut as he moved into an early 4-2 lead in front of a packed arena.
With the winner’s break format making table possession twice as valuable, Wu made a critical error at in the next as he failed to connect at all with the 1 ball while attempting a thin cut and with ball-in-hand and an open table, Bustamante looked set to increase his lead.
He too though made an unforced error as he left himself in the jaws of the centre pocket, unable to reach the green 6 without kicking. His attempt wasn’t good enough and Wu mopped up to reduce the deficit to a single rack.
The next racked looked a certainty for Wu but he badly ran out of position with just the 7 and 9 left on the table. He missed the pot and then missed it again following a weak safety from Bustamante and the Filipino held his nerve to increase his lead to 5-3.
Neither player was at their best as the game became a little scrappy at times and they shared the next two racks before Wu composed himself to take the 11th rack and position himself on Bustamante�s coat tails at 6-5.
Befitting his World Champion status, Wu looked much better in the next as he ran the rack comfortably to tie the scores up at 6-6.
A great break from Wu saw three balls drop but he had no clear shot on the 2 ball so elected to push out. Bustamante missed the tempter on the long 2 and Wu grabbed the opportunity to take the lead for the first time at 7-6.
The 2005 World Champion though scratched off his break shot in the next. Perhaps feeling the pressure in his first game on the TV table, Bustamante slightly ran out of position going from the 2 to 4 balls and missed the resulting pot.
Wu though, missed it too as he had to give the cue ball a touch of swerve. Bustamante made no mistakes from there as he cleared to restore parity.
Bustamante ran out the next rack from the break to take the lead at 8-7 and then tied Wu up in snooker in the 16th game. Wu escaped but left the two ball hanging over the centre pocket and Bustamante ran out to reach the hill.
The Filipino messed up on a 2/4 combination to throw Wu a lifeline which he gratefully accepted to give himself a chance.
Bustamante got back to the table in the next and he played what was the match-winning shot as he played a brave and very difficult long cut on the 2 ball, split up a cluster and gained perfect shape on the 3 ball to set up the victorious run out.
It was my first time on the TV table and playing front of loyal fans put immense pressure on me and I wasn’t sure if I could deliver, said Bustamante in his post-match press conference.
The balls soon started falling my way and that boosted my confidence. I had some butterflies before my matches but my confidence is soaring and I feel I can go all the way to championship.
With (Efren) Reyes and Ronnie (Alcano) out, there is more pressure on the young players but now that pressure has doubled but we�ll try out best, he added.
In the other early matches in the Last 32, there was mixed fortunes for the German players as Oliver Ortmann lost 10-7 against Kuo Po-cheng but Harald Stolka recorded a surprise 10-2 triumph over Wu Yu-lun.
Alain Martel (Canada) and Satoshi Kawabata (Japan) were also winners with Martel defeating Goran Mladenovic 10-2 and Kawabata clinching a 10-3 success over Luong Chi Dung of Vietnam.