Up-And-Comers Make Their Mark in Las Vegas
Day two of the Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championship was full of excitement at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
In what many fans are calling the best match they’ve ever witnessed, Efren “The Magician” Reyes would not succumb to a 10-1 deficit to Allen Hopkins, who was playing near flawless pool. In the case match, Hopkins jarred the 8-ball, allowing Reyes back to the table. This would prove a fatal mistake, as Reyes strung together a 10-game comeback to win the match 11-10.
Also on the men’s side, Taipei’s Po Cheng Kuo knocked crowd favorite Tony Robles to the one-loss side, 11-8. Kuo will next face Johnny Archer who scored an 11-0 win over John Schmidt on Monday.
The women’s side had its share of excitement as well, as Arizona’s Angel Paglia upset Karen Corr, ranked second in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, with a 9-7 win.
Another non-WPBA player, Jasmin Ouschan, scored a hill-hill win over former World Champion Ga-Young Kim. Ouschan went on to score a 9-2 win over Alice Rim later on Monday. Chinese up-and-comer Xiao-Ting Pan continued to make waves with her impressive play, scoring a 9-6 win over Jeanette Lee.
Reyes Takes Sixth San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Leg Title
Efren Reyes was the fan favorite at the first leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, which took place May 5-7 at the Nguyen Du Sports Hall in Ho-Chin-Minh City, Vietnam. And “the Magician” didn’t disappoint, defeating Li He Wen of the Chinese Taipei, 11 – 6, in the finals to claim the trophy and the top prize of $10,000.
“Before the match, I knew I had a good chance but towards the middle I started to lose my confidence since I have taken bad safety shots,” Li said. “Reyes is really an experienced player and you can’t make too many mistakes when playing against him.”
With this win, Reyes has now won six leg titles in the Asian Tour, which will travel to Bangkok, Thailand for the second leg on June 2 – 4, followed by Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Aug. 4-6 and Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 15-17.
IPT’s King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout to Occupy Sunday Prime-time Slot on OLN
The International Pool Tour has secured a major television package to air the lucrative tour’s debut event, the action-packed “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” series on the Outdoor Life Network [OLN]. The network will carry the six IPT shows in prime time, with the first show set to premiere at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, June 4.
The Comcast-owned OLN is currently available in almost 70 million households nationwide. The network is best known for its coverage of the National Hockey League, the prestigious Tour De France, the America’s Cup, Davis Cup tennis, the A1 Grand Prix series and the “Survivor” reality series in syndication.
“OLN is known for its coverage of some of the most prestigious and competitive international events in sports,” said Jon Denny, Executive Director of the IPT. “This new partnership signifies that pool is now a major television sport and that the International Pool Tour is a ready for prime time property.”
The International Pool Tour’s “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” features the world’s greatest players competing for more than $1 million in prize money. The series will be shown on OLN over six consecutive Sundays, culminating in a two-hour finale on Sunday, July 9, in which Mike Sigel and Efren Reyes face off in the final.
The “IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” was produced by the International Pool Tour in association with A. Smith & Company, the executive producers of network hits such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Skating with the Stars” and many major television sports events including pro football.
San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Event Underway
The 2006 San Miguel Beer Asian 9-Ball tour begins today, May 5, at the Nguyen Du Sports Hall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The field is divided into eight groups. Using a round-robin format, race-to-9, with alternating breaks, the winner of each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Filipino top seeds include Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in group one, rising star “Marvelous” Marlon Manalo heading group three, Francisco “Django” Bustamante heading group four, and Efren “Bata” Reyes in group five.
Last year’s overall champion, the sensational Taiwanese Yang Ching-Shun, is the first seed in group eight, veteran Fong Pang Chao heads group seven and last year’s World Pool Champion, teenage sensation Wu Chia Ching has been listed No. 1 in group two. The fourth player Taiwanese player is Wang Huang Hsiang.
The only outsider who earned a top-seed ranking was Malaysia’s Patrick Ooi, who is heading group six. Four players will represent the host nation, Vietnam, led by Nguyen Thanh Nam and including Luong Chi Dong, Vu Trong Khai and Nguyen Phuong Thao.
Japan’s lone entry is Masaaki Tanaka. Hong Kong will be represented by Au Chi Wai. Korea’s entry is Jeong Young-Hwa who was runner-up to Reyes in Taipei in 2004. Other entries are Xu Meng and Li He-Wen of China, Nurdin Abuba and Imran Ibrahim of Indonesia, Sundeep Gulati of India, Chan Keng-Kwang of Singapore, Tepwin Arunnath and Amnuayporn Chotipong of Thailand.
Jason Miller, the New Darling of Derby City, Joins Pagulayan on IPT
Miller’s Time: Jason dominated at Derby.
After hardly playing pool for a year, Miller arrived at the Eighth Annual Derby City Classic and wrested the Master of the Table title and its $20,000 prize from perennial all-around champion Efren Reyes. Then he strolled undefeated through a tough-as-nails 46-player qualification tournament for the International Pool Tour and won a berth on the million-dollar 8-ball circuit for 2006.
So when we say Miller arrived at the nine-day Derby City Classic, held Jan. 5-14 at the Executive West Hotel in Louisville, Ky., we mean he really arrived.
“I’m extremely excited,” Miller enthused. “This is great. The week was great … and then winning this card is just icing on the cake. It’s been a long ten days. A marathon. I just concentrate on one match at a time, and that’s about it. I got a good night’s sleep every night, didn’t stay up late, no gambling matches. It was well worth it.”
During the nine-day Derby endurance test, Miller won the 9-ball banks division, placed second in the one-pocket pack, and held on long enough for a 15th-place finish in the 9-ball contest. Reyes, who blitzed Miller 3-0 in the 20-minute one-pocket final, needed to top the 9-ball field to keep his Master of the Table title from 2005, but fell short in the semifinal versus fellow Filipino Rodolfo Luat.
As the 9-ball division was wrapping up on Jan. 14, the IPT kicked off the first of its four qualifiers for a handful of open spots on the 150-player tour. Each of the 46 players paid a $2,000 entry fee, and the only reward would be tour cards for the top two finishers.
The all-star field made for perhaps the most intimidating qualifier in pool history. At the top of the list was reigning U.S. Open champ Alex Pagulayan, but there wasn’t much of a drop-off from there, as the dream of competing on the IPT brought a passel of national 8-ball champs from the BCA and VNEA amateur leagues (Shane Van Boening, Brian Groce), 9-ball pros (Tang Hoa, Robb Saez, George Breedlove) and international studs like Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes, Germany’s Thomas Engert and the U.K.’s Imran Majid.
Miller was the first to qualify on Jan. 15, besting Foldes, 10-6, in the winners-bracket final. Pagulayan then outplayed Foldes, 10-2, to win his tour card. The Killer Pixie jigged around the table, crying out, “I made it! I’m in the IPT now!”
“It’s not only the IPT,” Pagulayan admitted afterward. “I’ve been here all week. I was doing good in the banks, and for some reason, they played like God on me. I was doing good in one-pocket, and for some reason Efren — he didn’t play like Efren. He played better than Efren. And then in 9-ball, Luat beat me, played his best against me. … At least I got this. I think I got the most important thing, I think. That might make me a millionaire, I think.”
Ralf Souquet felt almost as fortunate, breaking something of a dry spell to win the 9-ball division at Derby City. Among the top three players in he world in 2002, Souquet has struggled recently with physical and personal woes, and was seeking chiropractic treatment in Louisville for intense back pain during the Classic.
After crushing Luat, 7-0, in the 9-ball final, Germany’s “The Kaiser” was all smiles.
“I don’t know what it is,” Germany’s “The Kaiser” demurred. “… I do have a new girlfriend.”
Reyes crowned King of the Hill
Prior to the International Pool Tour giving Mike Sigel the nickname of “Mike the Mouth”, he was simply known as “Captain Hook”. After Sigel’s match against Efren Reyes on Sunday at the IPT’s King of the Hill Invitational 8-Ball Shootout, he might want to start calling himself “Captain Hooked”. Sigel found himself in that very position numerous times in the match, and not always after a Reyes safety.
The first set of the best two out of three match saw Reyes dominate Sigel on his way to an 8-0 win. Multiple times Reyes came up dry on the break but Sigel found himself without a good shot to get a run started. Unfortunately, on the rare times that Sigel did have a shot, he couldn’t get any momentum going.
The second set started out the same with Reyes racing to a 4-0 lead until he came up dry on the break in the 5th game and Sigel negotiated a very complex table run to get on the board at 4-1. Sigel was able to then string together back to back table runs to get back to 4-3 but got a little careless while running out the next rack and ended up giving Reyes a chance at the table which Reyes capitalized on. Sigel won the next two games to tie the score at 5-5, and then the nerves started to set in as both players suffered surprising missed shots in the 11th game. Reyes was the first to get control of table and win the game for a 6-5 lead, and he then cruised through the final two racks for the 8-5 win.
Reyes earned $200,000 for first place (the highest prize for first place at a pool tournament in the history of the game), while Sigel settled for $100,000 in second place prize money.
It’s Sigel vs. Reyes for King of the Hill!
In a dream match-up for pool fans, Hall-of-Famers Efren Reyes and Mike Sigel will meet in the finals of the International Pool Tour’s King of the Hill event on Sunday afternoon, playing for the biggest payday in the history of billiards.
Forty-two of the world’s best cue artists started play on Nov. 30 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. After four rounds of round-robin 8-ball play, Reyes emerged as the victor and earned a shot at Sigel and the $200,000 first-prize in the finals.
“This is the match that everyone of the planet wants to see,” said Sigel. “It’s classic. Half the people in the world think that he’s the greatest player, the other half think I’m the greatest player.”
In a typical gut-check performance for the legendary cue wizard, Reyes came back from a 4-0 deficit in a must-win match against fellow Filipino Marlon Manalo to win eight straight games and earn his berth against Sigel, 8-4.
“I’m coming after you – you wait for me!” Reyes said, after repeated promptings from the video production staff at the King of the Hill to say something for the cameras that sounded like he was taunting Sigel.
“I think it will be a very good match,” Reyes continued. “I haven’t played Mike Sigel in 10 years. He has a better record [against me]. Whoever gets the first break and breaks good may win it.”
Just six players were left standing for the final round-robin stage on Saturday, and, perhaps to no one’s surprise, three were ball-control mavens from the Philippines: Reyes, Manalo, and Francisco Bustamante. Perhaps the biggest surprise survivor was Hall-of-Famer Nick Varner, who underwent major heart-related surgery less than two years ago. The six were rounded out by Finland’s Mika Immonen and America’s Johnny Archer.
The Filipinos quickly took over the bracket, and going into the fifth and final match of the last round-robin, each Pinoy player had a record of 3-1. When Bustamante lost badly to Immonen to fall to 3-2, it was announced to the crowd and the players that the winner of the Reyes-Manalo match, which was still in progress, would meet Sigel in Sunday’s final.
It was a wild match to begin with, as Manalo took a quick 4-0 lead. Reyes began to mount a comeback, and the score was 4-2 when play was forced to stop for 20 minutes after an incredible and embarrassing gaffe by the match’s referee. Reyes had run out all the solids and had a clear shot on the 8, and decided to return to his chair for a moment before taking the shot. Evidently not paying attention, the referee absent-mindedly cleared the balls from the table before Reyes returned. Fortunately, each match at the King of the Hill was being videotaped, so the production crew soon was able to cue up a portion of the tape with the correct layout. After officials reset the balls, Reyes promptly sank the 8.
Soon, he was celebrating his big comeback and the potential to take home $200,000 from Sunday’s match. The runner-up will receive $100,000.
Sigel told BD that he was concerned with Reyes’ stellar record in high-pressure situations. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Reyes holds the current record for most money won in a pool match: $160,000 for a Japanese event several years ago.
Upsets Galore at U.S. Open as Former Champs Drop to One-Loss Bracket
The giants all fell from the winners’ bracket on Friday night at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Chesapeake, Va., as Johnny Archer, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Ralf Souquet, Niels Feijen and Jeremy Jones dropped to the one-loss side in the same round of matches.
The carnage started at 9 p.m. Friday with Filipinos Alex Pagulayan and Francisco Bustamante lagging on the TV table. The wily Pagulayan jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, allowing his foe near the table only once – and that was for a push. Regaining his world-beating form after two years of ho-hum play, the resurgent Bustamante rocketed back to take the lead at 9-8, but a hung 4 ball in the 18th rack brought Pagulayan back to the table, where he ran out and then ran the next two racks for an 11-9 victory.
“At the end I got lucky with the 4 ball,” Pagulayan said. “That was the key to the match. I was thinking when it was 8-8, just give me one more chance.”
On the next table over, Filipino expatriate Jose Parica kept one step ahead of countryman and longtime rival Reyes to win, 11-9. Reyes was joined soon on the one-loss side by several other former Open champions: Johnny Archer fell to Troy Frank, 11-6; Jeremy Jones lost to Andreas Roschkowsky, 11-9; and Ralf Souquet dropped a hill-hill slugfest with upstart Sylver Ochoa, 11-10.
This was all in the same round, mind you, and all within an hour of each other. Other significant winners’-bracket results from the 9 p.m. round included Nick Van den Berg smashing Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, 11-4; Viet Nam native Tang Hoa elbowing Holland’s Feijen, 11-8; and Charlie Williams halting Ernesto Dominguez.
That left eight men still in the winners’ bracket, and dozens left to brave the extraordinarily deep one-loss bracket in this field-of-256 competition with a $200,000 prize fund. At 3 p.m. EST, Tang will play Roschkowsky, Pagulayan will face Frank, Van den Berg will meet Parica, and Williams will lag against Ochoa.
U.S. Open Field Down to Half
Ochoa’s play is turning some heads.
Reno Open winner Marlon Manalo and 2003 BCA 9-ball Open titlist Tony Robles found themselves slugging it out deep in the one-loss bracket on Friday afternoon. Nearby, major event winners Marcus Chamat and Mike Davis faced off as red-hot Robb Saez and 2004 BCA champion Thorsten Hohmann battled for survival in the one-loss bracket.
Playing on diamond tables with 4 1/2 inch pockets and an absolutely unforgiving cut the finesse players and most experienced pros seemed to have an edge.
“You aren’t seeing a lot of guys breaking and running out,” said pro Tony Crosby.
Among the 16 players left in the winners’ bracket was Efren Reyes, who dropped defending U.S. Open champ Gabe Owen to the one-loss side, 11-8 on Thursday night. Reyes will meet Filipino countryman Jose Parica on Friday night. After a weak showing at the World Pool Championships, the Filipino contingent is performing quite well here; Alex Pagulayan and a resurgent Francisco Bustamante will meet in a winners’-bracket match on Friday night as well.
So far, the surprise of the tournament is young Sylver Ochoa, 19, a college sophomore at Texas-Pan American and a mainstay on the Fast Eddie’s regional tour. Ochoa beat Keith McCready Thursday night, 11-8, to stay undefeated. He will face Ralf Souquet on Friday night in a winners’-bracket match.
The sixteen players now left in the winners’ bracket are:
Nick Van den Berg, Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, Jose Parica, Efren Reyes, Ernesto Dominguez, Charlie Williams, Ralf Souquet, Sylver Ochoa, Tang Hoa, Niels Feijen, Andreas Roschkowsky, Jeremy Jones, Alex Pagulayan, Francisco Bustamante, Johnny Archer and Troy Frank.