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.
Hohmann Takes World 14.1 Straight Pool Top Honor
The German penchant for straight pool was evident in the final of the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, in which Thorsten Hohmann defeated his fellow countryman Thomas Engert, 200-80.
The first tournament of its kind in over 15 years, the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship took place over six days, from May 30 to June 4 at the Hilton in East Brunswick, N.J., attracting an international field of 64 players.
Hohmann topped the list of high runs with 174, and tore through the bracket in the double-elimination second round and single-elimination final. In the first round, a round-robin format among eight groups of eight players, Hohmann survived the elimination of half the field with a record of five wins and two losses, to John Schmidt and Allen Hopkins, respectively.
In the second round, among 32 players, Hohmann remained on the winners’ side with wins over Antonio Fazanes, 150-68, and Charlie Williams, 150-14. With only the top 16 advancing to the third and final round, Hohmann defeated everyone in his path. He avenged his first loss to Schmidt with a 200-64 win, then went on to beat Austrian “Ice Princess” Jasmin Ouschan, 200-117, and came out on top of a tight match against Max Eberle, 200-177 to land in the final with Engert.
Engert had a tough road to the finals, losing to Allen Hopkins in the second round, but making it into the top 16 with a win over Vilmos Foldes, 150-45, on the one-loss side. In the final round, he matched up against some formidable straight pool opponents, including Bobby Hunter, who he barely bested, 200-177, straight-pool veteran Allen Hopkins, 200-32, and Mika Immonen, 200-80.
The all-German final saw Hohmann ahead for the entire match, jumping out to a 160-49 lead. Engert was able to narrow the gap to 80, but missed the 15 in the side pocket after leaving the cue ball burrowed into a stack of balls. Hohmann ran out the next two racks for the win.