17

May

Drago New Predator 10-Ball Champion

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Drago New Predator 10-ball Champion
Predator 10-ball Championship / Las Vegas, NV
by InsidePOOL Staff
Tony “Tornado” Drago was crowned the new champion of the Predator 10-ball Championship by virtue of his victory over Filpino billiard legend Francisco Bustamante in the finals. This five-day event was hosted by the Riviera Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, NV, in conjunction with the BCA Pool League Nationals.
The extended, race-to-13 final match began inauspiciously when, in the first rack, Bustamante scratched off the 6 ball into the side pocket, Drago rattled the 7 ball, and both players took a couple of turns at the 8 before Bustamante finally scratched and Drago won the game. Indeed, not just the match but almost every rack was peppered with uncharacteristic errors by both players.
It was obvious, though, that Drago was the front-runner as he quickly pulled in front of Bustamante, his trademarked speedy pace and jaunty walk around the table showing his confidence. Up 4-3, Drago ran the table after Bustamante missed a 5 ball and then broke and ran the next to gain a three-rack lead. They struggled with gaining and keeping control of the match, and Bustamante managed to knot the score at 9 apiece, but when he sent the cue ball off the table on his next break, Drago again pulled ahead.
A flubbed 5-10 carom by “Django” ended up costing him the next rack, as Drago zeroed in on the 7-10 combination; however, Bustamante took the next rack after Drago came up short for the 5 ball and left the Filipino an out. One of the biggest errors in the match that gave Drago the hill came when, in the next rack, Bustamante shot at a hanging 1 ball and drew the cue ball so far down the rail, it scratched. Only in need of one more game, Drago broke and ran out the last rack to win 13-10.
In the awards ceremony that followed, both contestants gave short speeches. “I have to give credit to myself,” announced Drago to cheers and laughter. “I have never played ten-ball before, so to win this event, that’s really saying something.”
View the Predator 10-ball Championship image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/Predator-10-ball-championship/)

Results:
1st Tony Drago $17,000
2nd Francisco Bustamante $7,500
3rd Jeremy Jones $4,000
Marcus Chamat
5th Tyler Edey $2,700
Lee Van Corteza
Alex Pagulayan
Shane Van Boening
9th Niels Feijen $1,500
Ernesto Dominguez
John Schmidt
Darren Appleton
Robb Saez
Gabe Owen
Raj Hundal
Daryl Peach
17th Alex Lely $1,000
Ramil Gallego
Dan Louie
Stan Tourangeau
Jose Parica
Charlie Williams
Mika Immonen
Mike Dechaine
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17

May

Bustamante and Drago Will Meet in Predator Finals

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Bustamante and Drago Will Meet in Predator Finals
Predator 10-ball Championship / Las Vegas, NV
by InsidePOOL Staff
The two semifinal matches of the Predator 10-ball Championship are in the books, with Tony “Tornado” Drago and Francisco Bustamante set to meet in the finals at 6 p.m. PST.
Drago, a former World Pool Masters winner and a rookie player on the Mosconi Cup in 2007, bided his time in his match against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat. In fact, Chamat held the early lead of 5-2 before Drago made his move. Drago narrowed the gap to one rack by taking advantage of a dry break and then a faulty safety by Chamat, and he drew even with a break and run. “Napoleon” took the next two, but Drago counter-attacked to make it 7 apiece, and then he took the lead for the first time in the set with a 3-10 combo.
Another break and run nudged the Maltese one game closer. A safety battle over the 1 ball saw Chamat try for a bank and miss; on fire now, Drago sped through the rack at his usual rapid clip to reach the hill. He came up dry on his final break, but Chamat left him a shot on the 1 ball after a failed safety attempt, and Drago buzzed through the rack to win 11-7.
View the Predator 10-ball Championship image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/Predator-10-ball-championship/)
Bustamante met with former U.S. Open champ Jeremy Jones in the more lopsided second semifinal match. Jones took the first two racks, but he scratched on his next break and then committed two glaring errors to allow Bustamante to take a 3-2 lead. A quick 2-10 combo by the Filipino got him another step away from Jones, and in the next rack, several innings were exchanged over the 7 ball alone, with Bustamante getting that game as well. Some excellent defensive play followed, with the players splitting the next two games to make it 6-3. However, things seemed to go Bustamante’s way when he broke next and followed a road map to get out and then cleared the table after Jones missed an easy 1 ball.

The next two racks also went to “Django,” putting him on the hill 10-3. He came up empty on his break, and Jones cleared to put one more rack under his belt, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Jones made nothing on his break, and Bustamante played a strong safety on the 1 ball, hiding the cue behind the 3. When Jones fouled, Bustamante took ball in hand and took the simple way out, lining up the 1-10 combo in the side.
For live coverage of the 8th Annual Predator 10-ball Championship, please visit Predator10ball.com, Kozoom.com, and InsidePOOLmag.com.

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17

May

Napoleon Fells Defending Champ Van Boening

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Napoleon Fells Defending Champ Van Boening
Predator 10-ball Championship / Las Vegas, NV
by InsidePOOL Staff
The final four billiard players returning for Saturday’s final rounds have emerged after a taxing day of elimination at the Predator 10-ball Championship in Las Vegas, NV. This five-day event is being presented by Predator Products and hosted by the Riviera Hotel Casino.
For the players who had one loss already, the day began at 10:30 a.m. to try to make it through to the final 16. Defending champion Shane Van Boening trudged through Go Takami 10-7 and Nicolas Otterman 10-7 to make it. Allison Fisher held on gamely until a 10-4 loss to Mike Dechaine, who then fell to Gabe Owen in the final one-loss-side round 10-7. Jeremy Jones trounced Stan Tourangeau 10-2, Sweden’s Marcus Chamat bested Ramil Gallego 10-7, and Tyler Edey won 10-5 over Alex Lely. Representing the Philippines, Lee Van Corteza won 10-5 over fellow countryman Jose Parica, while Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan bested Dan Louie 10-8. Rounding out the final eight from the one-loss side was Darren Appleton of Great Britain, ousting Mika Immonen 10-4.
Tournament director Scott Smith redrew the remaining 16 names and put them into a single-elimination bracket. Unfortunately, there was apparently a miscommunication between Smith and event promoter Charlie Williams, for Smith seemed unaware that with the change in format, the race changed to 11 instead of 10. This was not discovered until Tony Drago had already “won” his match with Darren Appleton 10-6. The match was considered a concession to Drago by Appleton.
Chamat, playing Niels Feijen out of The Netherlands, reached the “hill” 9-3 to find that he had another two racks to go instead of one. Momentarily taken aback, Chamat was forced to watch Feijen take control of the table after a 5-10 combo gave the Dutchman a game. A break and run-out saw Feijen move another step closer; however, Feijen was playing to break up the 9 and 10 balls in the next and scratched. Chamat took the hill (again) and then broke and ran out the final table to win 11-5.
Canada’s Tyler Edey struggled through a tough match-up with reigning world champion Daryl “Dazzler” Peach that he ultimately won 11-7, while Alex Pagulayan thoroughly trounced John Schmidt to advance to the quarterfinals. From a 5-2 and then a 9-4 lead, Pagulayan took the hill but then missed the 9 ball. Schmidt bagged that game but then scratched on his next break, handing the match to Pagulayan.
Robb Saez and Francisco Bustamante played a hotly contested match that went double-hill, with Bustamante advancing. On the flip side, Jeremy Jones had a rather one-sided match with Great Britain’s Raj “Hitman” Hundal. In a set where Jones took an early lead and never relinquished it, the Texan soon found himself up 10-4. He flubbed the following 1 ball, but when Hundal scratched on the 6, it was all over.
Former U.S. Open champ Gabe Owen put up a good fight against Filipino Lee Van Corteza and managed to keep the score fairly even until the score was 7-6 Van Corteza. “Van Van” won the next and then missed a bank attempt on the 9 ball, but Owen also missed the 9, so Van Corteza took that rack. A safety skirmish in the next rack ended when Owen missed the 7 ball in the side, with Van Corteza reaching the hill. The Filipino broke the final rack, and it was no gimme, but he carefully ran out to win 11-6.
The fickle finger of fate paired Ernesto Dominguez and Shane Van Boening together again. Dominguez, having already defeated “The South Dakota Kid” once in this event, might not have taken him seriously enough the second time around, for it wasn’t long before Van Boening took a 5-2 lead. He pushed that to 7-4 and then 9-5. Van Boening missed the 1 ball in the fifteenth rack, and Dominguez cleared the table but came up dry on his following break. Van Boening ran out to reach the hill 10-6. He scratched on the 1 ball trying to play safe, and it looked as though Dominguez might be able to stage a comeback. But the table mechanic got funny on the 8 ball and missed it, leaving three balls for Van Boening, who won 11-6.
In the quarterfinal round, there was another all-Filipino match-up, as Bustamante met with Van Corteza. With the score tied 4-all, Bustamante gradually pulled away from his opponent, going up 8-5 and then 10-6. He played a defensive shot on the 1 ball in the next rack, and Van Corteza fouled, allowing Bustamante the win.
Chamat had an excellent match against Van Boening in which he whizzed to a daunting 7-3 lead over the defending champion. He faltered a bit when he got out of line on the next 9 ball and missed, and Van Boening took the next rack. They traded the next two to make it 8-5, and then Van Boening missed what appeared to be an easy 7. Chamat took that rack and then the next when Van Boening scratched, giving Chamat ball in hand and the hill. Van Boening started to make a comeback, winning the next two racks, but at 10-8, he scratched on the break. The last rack was a dicey one, but with a sweet break-out shot off the 7 ball into the 9 and 10 balls, Chamat claimed the victory 11-8.
Jones started off strong in his match against Edey, quickly reaching a 6-3 and then a 9-4 lead. When he missed the 5 ball in the side, though, Edey got back in gear to stage a return, taking that rack and the next to make it 9-6. Jones took ball in hand after Edey scratched to reach the hill, but when “Double J” missed a cut on the 4 ball, Edey took that rack. Edey did not manage to catch up in time, though, for when he underhit a 2-8 combo in the last rack, Jones was out for the 11-7 win.
View the Predator 10-ball Championship image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/Predator-10-ball-championship/)
In probably the most entertaining match of the evening, recent World Pool Masters champion Pagulayan met the fast-firing Drago on the featured table. It turned out to be the closest quarterfinal match of the event, with the players trading rack for rack. Pagulayan reached the hill first after Drago hung up a 4 ball, making it 10-8 Pagulayan. Drago got his chance in the next game, running out from the 2 to pull within a rack. A five-inning safety battle on the 6 ball ended with Pagulayan erroneously calling a foul on himself, and Drago made it a hill-hill nail-biter. The Maltese came up dry on his break, and Pagulayan pushed out. Drago played a safety on the 1, and Pagulayan kicked at it and left a shot for Drago, who dished up to win 11-10.

Saturday’s two semifinal matches will be between Chamat and Drago at 12:00 PST and Bustamante and Jones at 2:00 PST. For live coverage of the 8th Annual Predator 10-ball Championship, please visit Predator10ball.com, Kozoom.com, and InsidePOOLmag.com.

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