Ten New Players Qualify for the IPT
In the second-to-last week of qualification tournaments, 10 new players have earned the right to play in the International Pool Tour’s “IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship,” which will be held July 22 at the Venetian, Las Vegas:
Anthony Ginn
Corey Harper
Gary Abood
Jianbo Fu
Jonathan Penegar
Karl Boyes
Louis Condo
Scott Frost
Teddy Garrahan
Wei Liu
By placing first or second in their respective qualifiers, these players will be playing for more than $2,000,000 in prize money and a first place prize of $350,000, as well as a place on the money list at the North American Open. Each of them are also guaranteed a minimum of $2,000 for qualifying and playing, even if they fail to win a single game at the event. If they do well at the event, they have the chance to be in the top 100 on the money list at the end of 2006, thus qualifying for a 2007 tour card. IPT officials say that a 2007 tour card is worth a minimum of $100,000.
There are still spots left in two of the five remaining qualification tournaments, each taking place starting June 23:
Las Vegas, NV: Lou Butera’s Pool Sharks
Tulsa, OK: Magoo’s
Souquet’s On Top of the World, Again
With his parents and his girlfriend cheering him on in the stands, Ralf Souquet lifted his fifth PartyCasino.com World Pool Masters trophy over his head at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, which culminated June 18. Souquet has the best record of any player in this event with previous wins in 2002, 2000, 1996 and 1994.
With as many trophies as Souquet has had hovering over that head, one might expect it to swell to mass proportion, but even after his 8-4 victory against Alex Pagulayan in the final, Souquet remained humble. “It was a hard match as expected, and even though the scoreline suggests it was easy, it wasn’t,” he said.
With a single-elimination format, Pagulayan had ejected Steve Davis, Vilmos Foldes and Raj Hundal from the 16-man field to reach his first Masters final. Souquet removed Efren Reyes, the “Majarajah” of England, Imran Majid and 17-year-old wonderboy Wu Chia-ching of the Chinese Tapei.
In the final, Pagulayan won the lag and took the first rack, but Souquet wasn’t worried. He leveled the scale in the second, and after Pagulayan scratched off the break in the third, “The Kaiser” took command and moved in front, 2-1. Souquet potted two balls off the break but recognized trouble with the 2 ball, so he played safe. After a tight exchange, Pagulayan was gifted an opportunity as Souquet scratched and, with ball in hand, the Canadian/Filipino pulled it back to 2-2.
The third rack showed that the typically invulnerable Souquet is human, when Pagulayan missed a long shot at the red 3 and Souquet produced one of his worst shots of the competition and presented Pagulayan with a connect-the-dots layout, that allowed him to regain the lead, 3-2.
Pagulayan proved himself imperfect as well, with a foul that gave Souquet ball in hand, and soon after, the sixth rack, 3-3. From there, Souquet ran the next four racks, maintaining meticulous precision on every shot position. 6-3 as he closed in on yet another Masters title.
The crowd-pleasing Pagulayan kept the match alive by winning the 11th rack, but Souquet ran from the break in the 12th to become Masters champion again.
“This performance was probably my best match in the whole event,” Souquet said. “The semifinal was okay, although I didn’t feel 100 percent comfortable, but I had a good feeling now and wanted to take every chance I had.”
Who Will Rule Pool?
The World Pool Masters are underway at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, with 16 male players vying for wold dominance in straight-knockout, single-elimination 9-ball.
Of the 16 players, nine are Europeans: Nick van den Berg, Alex Lely and Neils Feijen of Holland, Thomas Engert and Ralf Souquet of Germany, and Ronnie O’Sullivan, Steve Davis, Imran Majid and Raj Hundal of England. The remainder of the field was filled out by Wu Chia-ching of the Chinese Taipei, Hiroshi Takenaka of Japan, Efren Reyes and Alex Pagulayan of the Philippines and Rodney Morris as the lone American.
The first-round began today (June 16) and so far, defending champion Hundal eliminated Hiroshi Takenaka, 8-5, while Feijen sent Morris packing, 8-3. Feijin’s win will put him in the quarterfinal with Hundal on Saturday evening.
Morris, who reached the final of last year’s event, said: “I felt good but with the alternate-break format I couldn’t come back when I went down a couple of games.”
Meanwhile, Foldes nabbed a nail-biter match against van den Berg, 7-8. The back-and-forth match was at hill-hill when Foldes broke and ran out for the win, much to the dismay of the Dutch crowd.
“I’m delighted to have won. It was a very tough game and either of us could have won it but in the end I kept it together to clear that last rack for victory,” Foldes said afterwards.
Chohan Takes One-Pocket Crown at Summer Jamboree
Tony “T-Rex” Chohan devoured the competition in the one-pocket division of the Summer Jamboree, which culminated June 15 at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, Calif. In a field of 37, Chohan remained at the top of the food chain, remaining undefeated after a 5-1 victory in the final over Dennis Orcollo.
Chohan has issued challenges in one-pocket in the past, and held true to his claims that he could beat any player under 50, west of Oklahoma. He began with wins over Gandy Valle, 3-0, Ed Ames, 3-1, and David Reljic, 3-1. In the next to matches, he didn’t allow his opponent on the scoreboard, beating Mark Haddad, 3-0, and administering a quick-and-painless 3-0 loss to Richard Burns in 11 minutes to take the hot-seat.
Meanwhile, Reno Open champion Dennis Orcollo was battling it out on the one-loss side, where he was sent by Ames. Orcollo came back with wins over Valle, Billy Palmer, Lance Salazar, Haddad and Burns to earn his place in the finals against Chohan.
Though Orcollo has been on a hot streak, his lack of one-pocket experience was apparent against Chohan, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Orcollo was able to get on the board with one game before Chohan finished off the match in the next game for the 5-1 win.
Chohan pocketed $2200 for first, while Orcollo settled for $1500. Richard Burns and Mark Haddad filled out the top four spots. The $10,000-added Summer Jamboree 9-Ball Division will kick off today at noon.
Complete Results:
1st Tony Chohan $2200
2nd Dennis Orcollo $1500
3rd Richard Burns $1000
4th Mark Haddad $700
5th/6th Lance Salazar, Santos Sambajon $450
7th/8th Billy Palmer, Ed Ames $300
9th/12th David Reljic, Gandy Valle, Tyler Edey, Trevor Smith $225
Haddad Sends Orcollo to the Losers’ Side at Summer Jamboree
The Hard Times Billiards hosted Summer Jamboree began June 14 and will continue through June 19, with 38 players currently competing in the $5,000-added one-pocket division.
Held annually after the Sands Regency Reno Open, the Summer Jamboree features many of the same players, including Reno Open winner Dennis Orcollo, Jose Parica, Santos Sambajon, Warren Kiamco, Tony Chohan and Tyler Edey, all playing in the one-pocket event. Even more top players are expected for the 9-ball event, which will commence this weekend (June 17).
The first day of one-pocket competition was full of upsets, as Frank Nordmann beat Parica, 3-0, and Ed Ames beat Sambajon, 3-2, in the first round. The hot-handed Orcollo was handed defeat in the third round by Mark Haddad, 3-1.
Haddad remains undefeated, and will face Tony Chohan today. Also remaining on the winners’ side are Richard Burns and Lance Salazar, who will also match wits today.
On the one-loss side, Ames knocked out Parica, 3-1, and could continue to foil the favorites when he meets Sambajon again today. Orcollo is staying alive with a win in his first one-loss side match against Gandy Valle, 3-2. He will face Billy Palmer today.
Part Two of the Sang Lee Series Airs This Sunday
This Sunday, June 18, part two of a four part series on the 2005 Sang Lee International Open will air at 10 p.m. EST on America One Sports, a division of America One Television Network.
This episode will feature the exciting semifinal matchup between the celebrated “Turkish Prince”, Semih Sayginer, and four-time world champion, Dick Jaspers — as they vie for the $100,000 prize fund and a spot in the final.
The tournament took place last August at the Carom Café Billiards, in Flushing, N.Y., and served as a memorial for the tournament’s namesake, Sang Chun Lee, who passed away on Oct. 19, 2004, at the age of 51. As player, organizer, promoter and room owner, Lee devoted his life to “making billiards beautiful in America,” and rejuvenated three-cushion billiards in the United States.
This series captures “The Road to the Finals,” of the event, which featured 76 of the strongest three-cushion players in the world, from 23 countries, competing for the most prestigious title in the game and $100,000, the richest purse ever offered on American soil.
The four-part series began airing May 7 and will culminate Aug. 1. For TV scheduling information, check your local listings or visit www.americaonesports.com.
Third Round Brings All-Star Match-ups at the Reno Open
The 2006 Reno Open is underway at the Sands Regency in Reno, Nev., yielding a field of 156 players.
Tournament coordinator Mick McMillin said that the number of players at the tournament, usually at or above the 200 mark, has decreased this year due to the International Pool Tour qualifiers.
Nonetheless, some great pool is being played. The third round brought about several marquis matches, including a match between longtime friends Gabe Owen and Jeremy Jones. Jones now has the upperhand, defeating his friend, 9-5.
Edwin Montal came up against Rodney Morris in the third round, besting him, 9-2, and Dennis Orcollo sent Cory Deuel to the one-loss side, 9-5.
Kim Davenport remains undefeated in the fourth round, and will match up against Filipino Jose Parica. Young Austin Murphy also remains on the winners’ side, winning his first three matches, and will face Bobby Hunter today.
Earl Strickland Turns 45 Today
Recent Hall of Fame inductee Earl “The Pearl” Strickland was born 45 years ago today, on June 8, 1961, in Roseboro, North Carolina.
Happy birthday Earl!!